Please close your eyes, and open your hands. Now imagine what you could place in your hands: an apple, maybe your wallet. Now open your eyes. What about a life?
Va rog sa inchideti ochii si sa va deschideti palmele. Acum imaginati-va ce ati putea tine in palme: un mar, sau poate portofelul. Acum deschideti ochii. Ce ziceti de o fiinta?
What you see here is a premature baby. He looks like he's resting peacefully, but in fact he's struggling to stay alive because he can't regulate his own body temperature. This baby is so tiny he doesn't have enough fat on his body to stay warm. Sadly, 20 million babies like this are born every year around the world. Four million of these babies die annually.
Ceea ce vedeti aici este un copil nascut prematur. Arata ca si cum s-ar odihni linistit, dar de fapt el se lupta sa ramana in viata deoarece nu poate sa-si controleze temperatura corpului. Bebelusul acesta este asa de mic, incat corpul lui nu are destula grasime sa-i tina cald. Din nefericire, 20 de milioane de astfel de copii se nasc in fiecare an in toata lumea. Anual, patru milioane dintre acestia mor.
But the bigger problem is that the ones who do survive grow up with severe, long-term health problems. The reason is because in the first month of a baby's life, its only job is to grow. If it's battling hypothermia, its organs can't develop normally, resulting in a range of health problems from diabetes, to heart disease, to low I.Q. Imagine: Many of these problems could be prevented if these babies were just kept warm.
Problema mai mare este ca cei care reusesc sa supravietuiasca se dezvolta cu afectiuni de sanatate severe de lunga durata. Asta din cauza ca in prima luna de viata, tot ce are de facut un copil este sa creasca. Daca se lupta cu hipotermie, organele lui nu se dezvolta normal, ducand la o serie de probleme de sanatate, incepand de la diabet, probleme cardiace, pana la un I.Q. scazut. Imaginati-va ca multe dintre aceste probleme ar putea fi prevenite daca acesti copii ar fi pur si simplu tinuti la caldura.
That is the primary function of an incubator. But traditional incubators require electricity and cost up to 20 thousand dollars. So, you're not going to find them in rural areas of developing countries. As a result, parents resort to local solutions like tying hot water bottles around their babies' bodies, or placing them under light bulbs like the ones you see here -- methods that are both ineffective and unsafe. I've seen this firsthand over and over again.
Aceasta este prima caracteristica a unui incubator. Insa incubatoarele traditionale necesita electricitate si costa pana la 20 de mii de dolari. Asadar, nu pot fi gasite in zonle rurale ale tarilor in curs de dezvoltare. In consecinta, parintii apeleaza la solutii accesibile, legand sticle cu apa calda in jurul bebelusilor sau tinandu-i sub lumina becului ca in imagine -- metode care sunt atat ineficiente cat si nesigure. Am vazut acest tip de pim-ajutor de foarte multe ori.
On one of my first trips to India, I met this young woman, Sevitha, who had just given birth to a tiny premature baby, Rani. She took her baby to the nearest village clinic, and the doctor advised her to take Rani to a city hospital so she could be placed in an incubator. But that hospital was over four hours away, and Sevitha didn't have the means to get there, so her baby died.
Intr-una din vizitele mele in India am cunoscut o tanara, Sevitha, care tocmai nascuse prematur o fetita pe nume Rani. Si-a dus fetita la cea mai apropiata clinica din sat, unde a fost sfatuita de doctor sa o duca pe Rani la un spital din oras, unde ar putea fi tinuta intr-un incubator. Insa spitalul era la 4 ore departare. Savitha nu avea cu ce sa ajunga pana acolo, iar copilul ei a murit.
Inspired by this story, and dozens of other similar stories like this, my team and I realized what was needed was a local solution, something that could work without electricity, that was simple enough for a mother or a midwife to use, given that the majority of births still take place in the home. We needed something that was portable, something that could be sterilized and reused across multiple babies and something ultra-low-cost, compared to the 20,000 dollars that an incubator in the U.S. costs.
Inspirati de aceasta poveste si multe altele asemanatoare, eu si echipa mea am inteles ca este nevoie de o solutie accesibila lor, ceva care sa functioneze fara electricitate, sa fie destul de simplu de folosit pentru o mama sau o moasa, avand in vedere ca majoritatea nasterilor inca mai au loc la domiciliu. Trebuia sa fie ceva portabil, ceva care sa poata fi sterilizat si refolosit si la alti copii si ceva forte ieftin, in comparatie cu 20 de mii de dolari, cat ar costa un incubator in S.U.A.
So, this is what we came up with. What you see here looks nothing like an incubator. It looks like a small sleeping bag for a baby. You can open it up completely. It's waterproof. There's no seams inside so you can sterilize it very easily. But the magic is in this pouch of wax. This is a phase-change material. It's a wax-like substance with a melting point of human body temperature, 37 degrees Celsius. You can melt this simply using hot water and then when it melts it's able to maintain one constant temperature for four to six hours at a time, after which you simply reheat the pouch. So, you then place it into this little pocket back here, and it creates a warm micro-environment for the baby.
Asa ca, uitati ce am reusit sa facem! Nu seamana deloc cu un incubator. Arata ca un mic sac de dormit pentru bebelusi. Se poate deschide in intregime. Este impermeabil. Nu are nici o cusatura inauntru si poate fi sterilizat foarte usor. Magia lui sta in acest saculet cu ceara. Acesta este un material care isi schimba starea. Este o substanta asemanatoare cu ceara, cu punctul de topire la temperatura corpului uman, 37 de grade Celsius. Se topeste doar folosind apa fierbinte, iar cand se topeste poate mentine o temperatura constanta timp de patru pana la sase ore, dupa care trebuie doar reincalzit saculetul. Apoi il introduci inapoi in buzunarul acesta si va creea un um mic mediu calduros pentru bebelus.
Looks simple, but we've reiterated this dozens of times by going into the field to talk to doctors, moms and clinicians to ensure that this really meets the needs of the local communities. We plan to launch this product in India in 2010, and the target price point will be 25 dollars, less than 0.1 percent of the cost of a traditional incubator.
Arata simplu, insa l-am recreat de zeci de ori discutand cu medici, mame, si clinicieni ca sa fim siguri ca intr-adevar satisface cerintele comunitatilor locale. Ne propunem sa lansam produsul in India, in 2010. Pretul la care tintim este de 25 de dolari, mai putin de 0,1% din costul unui incubator traditional.
Over the next five years we hope to save the lives of almost a million babies. But the longer-term social impact is a reduction in population growth. This seems counterintuitive, but turns out that as infant mortality is reduced, population sizes also decrease, because parents don't need to anticipate that their babies are going to die. We hope that the Embrace infant warmer and other simple innovations like this represent a new trend for the future of technology: simple, localized, affordable solutions that have the potential to make huge social impact.
Noi speram ca in urmatorii cinci ani sa salvam aproape un milion de bebelusi. Insa impactul social pe termen lung va fi reducerea cresterii populatiei. Pare ilogic, insa, s-a descoperit ca odata cu reducerea mortalitatii bebelusilor scade si numarul populatiei, deoarece parintii nu mai sunt nevoiti sa anticipeze moartea copiilor lor. Noi speram ca incalzitorul pentru bebelusi "Imbratisarea", impreuna cu alte inovatii simple ca acesta, sa reprezinte o tendinta noua pentru viitorul tehnologiei: solutii simple, localizate, ieftine care au potentialul unui impact social larg.
In designing this we followed a few basic principles. We really tried to understand the end user, in this case, people like Sevitha. We tried to understand the root of the problem rather than being biased by what already exists. And then we thought of the most simple solution we could to address this problem. In doing this, I believe we can truly bring technology to the masses. And we can save millions of lives through the simple warmth of an Embrace.
In crearea acestuia am urmat cateva principii de baza. Am incercat sa intelegem cu adevarat consumatorul final, in acest caz, oameni ca Savitha. Am incercat sa intelegem mai degraba originea problemei, in loc sa ne lasam influentati de ceea ce exista deja. Apoi ne-am gandit la cea mai simpa solutie pentru acesta problema. Prin aceasta metoda cred ca putem aduce cu adevarat tehnologia in randul maselor si putem salva milioane de vieti printr-o simpla "Imbratisare" calda.