Engineering lifesaving care for premature refugee babies

The second in our series on how STEM can help to relieve humanitarian crises focuses on James Roberts, inventor of the inflatable incubator

Tuesday was World Prematurity Day. According to the World Health Organisation, more than a million babies a year die of complications arising from premature birth. The WHO also estimate that around 75% of those deaths are preventable with better access to simple forms of care.

If those are the odds worldwide, then it's safe to say that for preterm babies born in refugee camps and less developed regions of the world, the outlook is grim. In particular, studies have shown that pregnant refugees fleeing wartorn areas are at increased risk of preterm birth.