In India, some infants cannot make it beyond 24 hours of their birth because they are underweight, premature or need special care to survive. Malav Sanghavi has found a solution that is a respite for millions of parents who lose their babies because of lack of basic child care facilities or have limited or no access to them.

Malav has developed an affordable incubator made of cardboard that aims to offer basic infrastructure and other facilities needed in the case of premature and underweight infants.

Malav Sanghavi has won the third prize for inventing LifeBox, an economical and innovative life saving technology that can help save lives of millions of premature infants who need incubator support for survival in the first few days.

The competition, Pitch@Palace is an initiative championed by the Duke of York which aims to encourage entrepreneurship by connecting start-up companies with potential investors and mentors (sic).

Before pitching his idea at Pitch@Palace, Malav Sanghavi’s received £500 grant from Imperial College Advance Hackspace to help him develop the prototype of his product. Expressing his gratitude, Manav said, “Having access to the facilities, expertise, and funding at Imperial has been hugely helpful in the development of Lifebox. As students, this kind of support is invaluable.”

An alumnus of National School of Design, Ahmadabad, Malav Sanghavi is currently pursuing his Masters in Innovation Design Engineering at Royal College of Arts and Imperial College London.

According to Imperial, Manav’s LifeBox is a low-cost baby incubator that provides the basic functions necessary for child’s survival in their first days of life. It is intended for use in the developing world, where access to such facilities can be limited. Made from cardboard, the bottom part of the incubator can be given to the parent of the child after birth as a make-shift cot (sic).

With this incredible invention, millions of infants will have access to the basic facilities.

Story Inputs: Imperial College London 

Cover Image Source: Imperial College London