Holy Smokes! DtM Pelican Indiegogo Passes 100 Funders!

In just 4 days we have gone from 66 supporters to over 100! This is totally unexpected and incredibly exciting news! We can't express the importance of this outpouring of Pelican support as we begin to scale the project. Help us build the campaign further as we continue to raise awareness for newborn pneumonia, the number one killer of children under five.

Your show of support means more attention and resources to solve this serious problem and bring us closer to a world of happy moms. Please help us by sharing on Facebook and Twitter, blogging, and spreading the word! Thank you!

MIT + RISD Pelican Team Update: Final Review

After a gruelling semester of ups and downs our MIT + RISD team has reached their final presentation, and what a presentation it was! The team’s final design addresses needs  DtM had identified from overseas and new insights the student team uncovered during research with health care providers in Boston. Their concept embodies a variety of qualities that make it suited for the developing world context, some include: 

• All in one design: eliminates unruly cords that can be easily damaged
• Compact, but not too small: small enough to carry around, but harder to accidentally lose
• Constant Alignment: hinged jaw design keeps sensors aligned, no room for user error
• Torsion Spring: pressure on baby’s foot is controlled by a spring, not the user
• Accommodates Many Foot Sizes: hinged design allows for quick adjustment
• Trigger: no need to fumble with band-aid style sensors, the trigger is simple and intuitive
• Only necessary features: only settings or readings that are needed

We are incredibly proud with all that the team has accomplished this past semester, and can't wait to test the concept in the field with a variety of our internal sacrificial concepts. Thank you Aditya, Esther, Keiichi, Kevin, Leah, Phillip, Shubhang, Victoria and Wei for all of your hard work! We look forward to working with you as we move Pelican forward!

Check out a video of their concept below!

- Will Harris, IDSA
  DtM Designer

MIT + RISD Pelican Team Update: Design Review

We would like to take this opportunity to showcase the fantastic work our MIT + RISD student team been doing to ramp up Project Pelican, especially after seeing their great design review this past week. Some of the highlights include:

• Conducting user interviews with a variety of stakeholders including local nurses and moms.
• Creating a “works-like” prototype design with all of the electronics necessary to work as a real pulse oximeter.
• Creating a “looks-like” prototype design that takes into account both the mechanics and usability.
• Building new relationships with local health care providers who have experience in global health and will assist DtM throughout Project Pelican.
• Designing the groovy Pelican logo we have adopted!

We are just weeks away from the student team’s final presentation and we can't wait to see what they produce!

- Will Harris, IDSA
  DtM Designer

Say Hello to Project Pelican!

Say hello to Project Pelican, DtM’s new program to design a pulse oximeter to diagnose newborns with pneumonia. Keeping with the animal themed project names from our most successful projects, Kinkajou and Firefly, the name Pelican was chosen due to the way a pulse oximeter hugs a newborn’s foot reminding us of a Pelican beak.

ABOUT PELICAN
A 2013 Unicef report revealed pneumonia is the leading cause of child deaths worldwide. In 2012, over 1.1 million children, including 330,000 newborns, died of pneumonia. To put this in perspective, 132,000 children died from AIDS, and 462,000 children died from Malaria. Though 1 in 4 childhood pneumonia deaths are newborns, technology targeting newborns remains overlooked. A pulse oximeter is the best way to identify newborns in need of oxygen, and diagnose pneumonia. We are currently designing a spot check pulse oximeter to solve this overlooked problem, and reach 1 million newborns.