Accessibility Skip to:
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Main Content
  • Main Menu
  • Contact
History:
You are here:
  • Grand Challenges Canada
  • >
  • Innovations
  • >
  • 1707-04630
  • Français
  • About Us
    • About Grand Challenges Canada
    • Annual Letter
    • Annual Report
    • Evaluations
    • Innovations & Results
    • Our People
    • Our Partnerships
    • Employment Opportunities
  • Programs
    • Global Mental Health
    • Humanitarian Grand Challenge
    • Indigenous Innovation Initiative
    • OPTions Initiative
    • Saving Brains
    • Saving Lives at Birth
    • Stars in Global Health
    • Transition To Scale
  • Funding & Resources
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Service Opportunities
    • Integrated Innovation
    • Gender Equality Portal
    • Policies & Other Resources
  • News & Media
    • News
    • Blog
    • Photos
    • Videos
    • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • About Grand Challenges Canada
    • Annual Letter
    • Annual Report
    • Evaluations
    • Innovations & Results
    • Our People
    • Our Partnerships
    • Employment Opportunities
    Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact®.
  • Programs
    • Global Mental Health
    • Humanitarian Grand Challenge
    • Indigenous Innovation Initiative
    • OPTions Initiative
    • Saving Brains
    • Saving Lives at Birth
    • Stars in Global Health
    • Transition To Scale
    Funded by the Government of Canada and other partners, Grand Challenges Canada funds innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada.
  • Funding & Resources
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Service Opportunities
    • Integrated Innovation
    • Gender Equality Portal
    • Policies & Other Resources
    The bold ideas Grand Challenges Canada supports integrate science and technology, social and business innovation – known as Integrated Innovation®.
  • News & Media
    • News
    • Blog
    • Photos
    • Videos
    • Contact Us
    One of the largest impact-first investors in Canada, Grand Challenges Canada has supported a pipeline of over 800 innovations in more than 80 countries.
  • Blog
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Français
Grand Challenges Canada

Bold Ideas with Big Impact®

Browse our Innovations and Results

Improving the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis in Malawi

FacebookTwitterLinked In

Start Date: 01/08/2017- End Date: 31/08/2019


Project Lead(s): Pascal Lavoie

Early diagnosis of a severe infection in a baby can be difficult as it mimics many other health conditions. Some of these infections can be due to bacteria and failing to treat these infections with antibiotics early can lead to death or major disability. As a result, many infants, even those with non-bacterial infections, are treated unnecessarily with antibiotics, thus wasting scarce resources and potentially creating resistant superbugs.

To address this problem, innovators with the University of British Columbia will build a diagnostic algorithm, incorporated into a mobile phone app, to help doctors identify babies most in need of rapid treatment for a potential bacterial infection by using clinical signs, and risk factors, and subtle variations in infants’ vital signs. The project will use advanced molecular blood tests to accurately detect bacterial infections, in order to improve the diagnostic precision of the algorithm and mobile phone app. 

The project will obtain clinical data, including vital sign data captured using a low-cost hand/foot probe connected to a mobile phone, and a small blood sample from 500 newborns at the Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi over an eighteen-month period.

The predictor model will be incorporated into a low-cost mobile app and sensor device in partnership with LGT Medical (a Vancouver-based medical technology company, also supported by Grand Challenges Canada) to guide critical life-saving interventions for babies with severe infections around the world.

Stay in touch with this innovator

  • Email
  • Innovation Overview
    Program

    Stars in Global Health

    Institution

    University of British Columbia

    Institution Country

    Canada

    Implementation Country

    Malawi

    Implementation Region

    Sub-Saharan Africa

    Priority

    Newborn Conditions, Sepsis

    Platform

    Diagnostics / Diagnostics, Information and Communications Technology

Grand Challenges Canada’s programs are primarily undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.

Government of Canada
  • Flickr
  • Youtube
  • Linked In
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Fluxx Technical Support
  • Privacy Policy
  • Website Legal Terms and Disclaimer