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  • 7 hours ago
Power outages can be life threatening for preemies. One man has invented a solar-powered incubator to save them. The device is also creating jobs locally.
Transcript
00:00Little Nachma was born three months premature.
00:09She owes her life to this incubator.
00:12It creates a micro-climate in which humidity and temperature are regulated.
00:19Her body has everything it needs to grow, just like in the womb.
00:25The fact that incubators function non-stop at this hospital, in the town of Fumbo, is not a given.
00:33Here in Cameroon, power outages are common.
00:38Before we got these hybrid incubators, we used imported ones.
00:45But they were too sensitive to power cuts.
00:50The incubators are built locally in Cameroon.
00:54They can run on solar-powered batteries and mains electricity.
00:58The idea came from entrepreneur Serge Gijoux.
01:01He witnessed first-hand how a mother lost five babies because of power outage.
01:06The tragedy spurred him into action.
01:09We knew that for a viable solution for us here, we needed to use renewable energy, which is cheap and reliable.
01:18So we opted for solar power and built a hybrid incubator that can function fully even in remote places or places with no reliable power supply, thus saving lives.
01:33The locally-made incubators are also creating long-term jobs.
01:38Production of the Mawau incubators started in Yaoundé two years ago.
01:42The models have proven effective and more than 200 have sold so far.
01:47They are also boosting the use of solar power.
01:50The hospital in Fumbo, for example, now operates three wards with solar power, one of which is the maternity ward.
02:01The incubators were financed by an NGO.
02:03They cost the equivalent of around 4,500 euros.
02:07That's a lot of money, but nothing compared to the many lives that have been saved.
02:14Nahma is also coming on well.
02:16She's already breastfeeding, a huge relief for her mother.
02:23When I see my child so healthy and how she's developed so wonderfully compared to the first day I saw her, I'm really proud.
02:30It's a big change.
02:32And what better reward for the nurses and the incubators' inventors too?
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