Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives

Traducător: Anamaria Muresan Corector: Marcela Motoc

Please close your eyes,

Va rog sa inchideti ochii

and open your hands.

si sa va deschideti palmele.

Now imagine what you could place in your hands:

Acum imaginati-va ce ati putea tine in palme:

an apple, maybe your wallet.

un mar, sau poate portofelul.

Now open your eyes.

Acum deschideti ochii.

What about a life?

Ce ziceti de o fiinta?

What you see here is a premature baby.

Ceea ce vedeti aici este un copil nascut prematur.

He looks like he's resting peacefully, but in fact he's struggling to stay alive

Arata ca si cum s-ar odihni linistit, dar de fapt el se lupta sa ramana in viata

because he can't regulate his own body temperature.

deoarece nu poate sa-si controleze temperatura corpului.

This baby is so tiny he doesn't have

Bebelusul acesta este asa de mic, incat corpul lui nu are

enough fat on his body to stay warm.

destula grasime sa-i tina cald.

Sadly, 20 million babies like this

Din nefericire, 20 de milioane de astfel de copii

are born every year around the world.

se nasc in fiecare an in toata lumea.

Four million of these babies die annually.

Anual, patru milioane dintre acestia mor.

But the bigger problem is that the ones who do survive

Problema mai mare este ca cei care reusesc sa supravietuiasca

grow up with severe, long-term health problems.

se dezvolta cu afectiuni de sanatate severe de lunga durata.

The reason is because in the first month of a baby's life,

Asta din cauza ca in prima luna de viata,

its only job is to grow.

tot ce are de facut un copil este sa creasca.

If it's battling hypothermia, its organs can't develop normally,

Daca se lupta cu hipotermie, organele lui nu se dezvolta normal,

resulting in a range of health problems

ducand la o serie de probleme de sanatate,

from diabetes, to heart disease,

incepand de la diabet, probleme cardiace,

to low I.Q.

pana la un I.Q. scazut.

Imagine: Many of these problems could be prevented

Imaginati-va ca multe dintre aceste probleme ar putea fi prevenite

if these babies were just kept warm.

daca acesti copii ar fi pur si simplu tinuti la caldura.

That is the primary function of an incubator.

Aceasta este prima caracteristica a unui incubator.

But traditional incubators require electricity

Insa incubatoarele traditionale necesita electricitate

and cost up to 20 thousand dollars.

si costa pana la 20 de mii de dolari.

So, you're not going to find them in rural areas of developing countries.

Asadar, nu pot fi gasite in zonle rurale ale tarilor in curs de dezvoltare.

As a result, parents resort to local solutions

In consecinta, parintii apeleaza la solutii accesibile,

like tying hot water bottles around their babies' bodies,

legand sticle cu apa calda in jurul bebelusilor

or placing them under light bulbs like the ones you see here --

sau tinandu-i sub lumina becului ca in imagine --

methods that are both ineffective and unsafe.

metode care sunt atat ineficiente cat si nesigure.

I've seen this firsthand over and over again.

Am vazut acest tip de pim-ajutor de foarte multe ori.

On one of my first trips to India, I met this young woman, Sevitha,

Intr-una din vizitele mele in India am cunoscut o tanara, Sevitha,

who had just given birth to a tiny premature baby, Rani.

care tocmai nascuse prematur o fetita pe nume Rani.

She took her baby to the nearest village clinic,

Si-a dus fetita la cea mai apropiata clinica din sat,

and the doctor advised her to take Rani

unde a fost sfatuita de doctor sa o duca pe Rani

to a city hospital so she could be placed in an incubator.

la un spital din oras, unde ar putea fi tinuta intr-un incubator.

But that hospital was over four hours away,

Insa spitalul era la 4 ore departare.

and Sevitha didn't have the means to get there,

Savitha nu avea cu ce sa ajunga pana acolo,

so her baby died.

iar copilul ei a murit.

Inspired by this story, and dozens of other similar stories like this,

Inspirati de aceasta poveste si multe altele asemanatoare,

my team and I realized what was needed was a local solution,

eu si echipa mea am inteles ca este nevoie de o solutie accesibila lor,

something that could work without electricity,

ceva care sa functioneze fara electricitate,

that was simple enough for a mother or a midwife to use,

sa fie destul de simplu de folosit pentru o mama sau o moasa,

given that the majority of births still take place in the home.

avand in vedere ca majoritatea nasterilor inca mai au loc la domiciliu.

We needed something that was portable,

Trebuia sa fie ceva portabil,

something that could be sterilized and reused across multiple babies

ceva care sa poata fi sterilizat si refolosit si la alti copii

and something ultra-low-cost,

si ceva forte ieftin,

compared to the 20,000 dollars

in comparatie cu 20 de mii de dolari,

that an incubator in the U.S. costs.

cat ar costa un incubator in S.U.A.

So, this is what we came up with.

Asa ca, uitati ce am reusit sa facem!

What you see here looks nothing like an incubator.

Nu seamana deloc cu un incubator.

It looks like a small sleeping bag for a baby.

Arata ca un mic sac de dormit pentru bebelusi.

You can open it up completely. It's waterproof.

Se poate deschide in intregime. Este impermeabil.

There's no seams inside so you can sterilize it very easily.

Nu are nici o cusatura inauntru si poate fi sterilizat foarte usor.

But the magic is in this pouch of wax.

Magia lui sta in acest saculet cu ceara.

This is a phase-change material.

Acesta este un material care isi schimba starea.

It's a wax-like substance with a melting point

Este o substanta asemanatoare cu ceara, cu punctul de topire

of human body temperature, 37 degrees Celsius.

la temperatura corpului uman, 37 de grade Celsius.

You can melt this simply using hot water

Se topeste doar folosind apa fierbinte,

and then when it melts it's able to maintain one constant temperature

iar cand se topeste poate mentine o temperatura constanta

for four to six hours at a time,

timp de patru pana la sase ore,

after which you simply reheat the pouch.

dupa care trebuie doar reincalzit saculetul.

So, you then place it into this little pocket back here,

Apoi il introduci inapoi in buzunarul acesta

and it creates a warm micro-environment

si va creea un um mic mediu calduros

for the baby.

pentru bebelus.

Looks simple, but we've reiterated this dozens of times

Arata simplu, insa l-am recreat de zeci de ori

by going into the field to talk to doctors, moms and clinicians

discutand cu medici, mame, si clinicieni

to ensure that this really meets the needs of the local communities.

ca sa fim siguri ca intr-adevar satisface cerintele comunitatilor locale.

We plan to launch this product in India in 2010,

Ne propunem sa lansam produsul in India, in 2010.

and the target price point will be 25 dollars,

Pretul la care tintim este de 25 de dolari,

less than 0.1 percent of the cost

mai putin de 0,1% din costul

of a traditional incubator.

unui incubator traditional.

Over the next five years we hope to save the lives

Noi speram ca in urmatorii cinci ani sa salvam

of almost a million babies.

aproape un milion de bebelusi.

But the longer-term social impact is a reduction in population growth.

Insa impactul social pe termen lung va fi reducerea cresterii populatiei.

This seems counterintuitive,

Pare ilogic,

but turns out that as infant mortality is reduced,

insa, s-a descoperit ca odata cu reducerea mortalitatii bebelusilor

population sizes also decrease,

scade si numarul populatiei,

because parents don't need to anticipate

deoarece parintii nu mai sunt nevoiti sa anticipeze

that their babies are going to die.

moartea copiilor lor.

We hope that the Embrace infant warmer

Noi speram ca incalzitorul pentru bebelusi "Imbratisarea",

and other simple innovations like this

impreuna cu alte inovatii simple ca acesta,

represent a new trend for the future of technology:

sa reprezinte o tendinta noua pentru viitorul tehnologiei:

simple, localized, affordable solutions

solutii simple, localizate, ieftine

that have the potential to make huge social impact.

care au potentialul unui impact social larg.

In designing this we followed a few basic principles.

In crearea acestuia am urmat cateva principii de baza.

We really tried to understand the end user,

Am incercat sa intelegem cu adevarat consumatorul final,

in this case, people like Sevitha.

in acest caz, oameni ca Savitha.

We tried to understand the root of the problem

Am incercat sa intelegem mai degraba originea problemei,

rather than being biased by what already exists.

in loc sa ne lasam influentati de ceea ce exista deja.

And then we thought of the most simple solution we could

Apoi ne-am gandit la cea mai simpa solutie

to address this problem.

pentru acesta problema.

In doing this, I believe we can truly bring technology to the masses.

Prin aceasta metoda cred ca putem aduce cu adevarat tehnologia in randul maselor

And we can save millions of lives through the simple warmth of an Embrace.

si putem salva milioane de vieti printr-o simpla "Imbratisare" calda.