Neonatal heartbeat annunciator for use in the developing world

The majority of neonatal deaths occur in the developing countries. In many cases, unresponsive infants at birth are alive although birth attendants think they are dead and do not attempt to resuscitate them. In order to address this problem, training for birth attendant skills for resuscitation and having a device to determine the newborn heartbeat are necessary. In this project, a neonatal heartbeat annunciator has been designed and undergone preliminary evaluation. The device is quickly attached and uses electrodes to pick up the ECG signal from the infant´s chest. Following electronic processing, the heartbeat is indicated as a flash of LED light and the sound of a high-frequency buzzer. It is hoped that this device will encourage birth attendants to attempt to resuscitate unresponsive babies and help to reduce neonatal mortality.