The WAAA! wearable is a sensor module that slots into a silicone band that is worn around the newborn’s chest. It monitors ECG signals and heart rate as well the strain to the bottom of the housing from the expansion of the baby’s chest cavity to track respiratory effort.
It then combines heart rate and respiratory effort levels at intervals to determine if they are within healthy limits. Abnormal signs are transmitted to the companion gateway box via radio frequency, rather than Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and details are then sent via SMS to a local healthcare worker. It is designed to be delivered to prospective parents and used over the course of three days around the time of the birth.
WAAA! = wearable, anytime, anywhere, APGAR. The first three of those are self-explanatory but it’s APGAR that saves newborns’ lives.
It’s a universally recognised scale for assessing the vital signs of babies in the first minute, hour and day of their life. APGAR helps healthcare workers and parents to monitor appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration in newborns to avoid infections, pneumonia in particular.
