Cardiovascular monitoring gadgets and home testing diagnostics swept the board as the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the winners of the 2024 RADx® Tech maternal health challenge. The NIH challenged US tech firms across the country to come up with inventive ways to use mobile technology to improve health outcomes for new mothers and birthing parents.
Multi-College Collaboration
The collaboration between the US’s biggest postpartum health research teams brought together the Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institute of Nursing Research, Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development resulted in the creation of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx® Tech) for Maternal Health Challenge.
With $8 million in prizes up for grabs, this competition raised the stakes for innovators looking to lower maternal death rates. The challenge encouraged would-be inventors to come up with wearable tech for women living in remote or deprived areas with limited access to maternity care.
Winning Maternal Health Tech
The six winners of the grand prize each bagged $525,000 to develop their idea. The Judges found that gadgets for measuring heart rate, blood pressure, iron levels, diagnosing UTIs and home health monitoring were the order of the day. With postpartum haemorrhage, cardiovascular problems and infections, the leading causes of maternal death, health officials hope that wireless tech could help stop mums from falling through the cracks. A combination of empowering women and birthing parents to keep an eye on their vital statistics while automatically alerting docs to worrying changes could be the recipe for success.
Troubling Stats
The USA has the highest maternal death rates in the developed world, with Black women the most at risk. Maternal mortality rates dropped in 166 of 183 countries between 1990 and 2013, according to WHO data. In contrast the USA rate increased 27% between 2000 and 2014.
With many pregnant people unable to access adequate prenatal care, postpartum maternity care is even more of an afterthought thought. ‘In the United States, most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Equitable access to diagnostics can lead to timely interventions and potentially life-saving treatments,’ Diana W. Bianchi, M.D., director of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), explained in a press release. ‘Through this challenge, NIH encouraged innovative, easy-to-use technologies that monitor common postpartum health problems, including haemorrhage, anaemia, urinary infections and depression.’
Read more about the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx® Tech) for Maternal Health Challenge here.
Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative | NICHD – Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/IMPROVE
Item of Interest: NIH selects next round of winners in the RADx® Tech for Maternal Health Challenge | NICHD – Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/newsroom/news/040323-RadxTech-Deep-Dive
Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx® Tech) for Maternal Health Challenge | NICHD – Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. October 15, 2024. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/challenges/radx-tech-maternal-health
World Health Organization, United Nations Population Fund, World Bank, United Nations. Population Division, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2013: Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, The World Bank and the United Nations Population Division. World Health Organization; 2014. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/112682