Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives

譯者: Lucy Jaryen Hsu 審譯者: WEN SHAN LAI

Please close your eyes,

請各位閉上眼睛

and open your hands.

把手掌打開

Now imagine what you could place in your hands:

想想看你手上可以放什麼?

an apple, maybe your wallet.

蘋果，還是錢包？

Now open your eyes.

請張開眼睛

What about a life?

如果放個小生命在手上呢

What you see here is a premature baby.

這是個早產兒

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

他看似睡的安穩，但其實正掙扎求生

because he can't regulate his own body temperature.

因為他沒辦法控制自己的體溫

This baby is so tiny he doesn't have

這個嬰兒還太小

enough fat on his body to stay warm.

沒有足夠的體脂肪保持體溫

Sadly, 20 million babies like this

令人傷心的是，每年有兩千萬這樣的嬰兒

are born every year around the world.

出生在世界上

Four million of these babies die annually.

而當中每年死亡數目是四百萬

But the bigger problem is that the ones who do survive

更糟的是

grow up with severe, long-term health problems.

活下來的嬰兒都有嚴重的後遺症

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

因為嬰兒出生第一個月

its only job is to grow.

都該努力成長

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

如果體溫過低，嬰兒就沒辦法正常發育

resulting in a range of health problems

造成許多健康問題

from diabetes, to heart disease,

像是糖尿病，心臟病

to low I.Q.

還有智能不足

Imagine: Many of these problems could be prevented

這些問題都可以避免

if these babies were just kept warm.

只要能讓這些嬰兒保持溫暖

That is the primary function of an incubator.

保溫箱就是要讓嬰兒保暖

But traditional incubators require electricity

但傳統保溫箱必須插電

and cost up to 20 thousand dollars.

而且要價將近台幣七十萬

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

所以發展中國家的鄉間地區根本找不到保溫箱

As a result, parents resort to local solutions

因此早產兒的父母只好用當地的辦法

like tying hot water bottles around their babies' bodies,

像是用熱水瓶繞著嬰兒的身體

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

或像圖片這樣，把嬰兒放在燈泡下面

methods that are both ineffective and unsafe.

這些方法沒什麼用，又不安全

I've seen this firsthand over and over again.

我親眼證實，好幾次都是這樣

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

我去印度的時候，遇到這位年輕婦女Sevitha

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

她剛生的早產兒名叫Rani

She took her baby to the nearest village clinic,

她帶Rani到村裡最近的診所

and the doctor advised her to take Rani

醫生叫她帶Rani去城裡的醫院

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

那裏才有保溫箱

But that hospital was over four hours away,

但去醫院的路程要四個小時

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

Sevitha也沒辦法去

so her baby died.

Rani因此夭折

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

由於這件事和其他許多類似的事

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

我們團隊了解，必須想出當地的解決方法

something that could work without electricity,

因地制宜又不用電的方法

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

又要簡便，讓母親和接生婆都會用

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

因為大多數嬰兒還是在家裡出生的

We needed something that was portable,

這個解決工具要能帶著走

something that could be sterilized and reused across multiple babies

能消毒後再給其他嬰兒使用

and something ultra-low-cost,

價格又要壓到最低

compared to the 20,000 dollars

起碼要低於

that an incubator in the U.S. costs.

台幣七十萬的保溫箱

So, this is what we came up with.

而這就是我們的成果

What you see here looks nothing like an incubator.

這看起來一點也不像保溫箱

It looks like a small sleeping bag for a baby.

比較像嬰兒睡袋

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

可以整個打開，這是防水的

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

裡面沒有接縫，非常容易消毒

But the magic is in this pouch of wax.

特別的地方在於這一袋蠟

This is a phase-change material.

這個袋子裡的物質會改變型態

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

像蠟一樣

of human body temperature, 37 degrees Celsius.

融點是攝氏37度，相當於人的體溫

You can melt this simply using hot water

只要用熱水就可以融解

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

溶解以後就可以保持恆溫

for four to six hours at a time,

每次維持四到六個小時

after which you simply reheat the pouch.

凝固後再重新加熱融解就可以了

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

把這個袋子放在這後面的小口袋

and it creates a warm micro-environment

就能為嬰兒

for the baby.

打造溫暖的小天地

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

看起來簡單，但我們重做了好多次

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

徵詢當地醫生和婦女的意見

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

確保能滿足當地的需要

We plan to launch this product in India in 2010,

產品計劃在2010年於印度上市

and the target price point will be 25 dollars,

目標定價台幣875元

less than 0.1 percent of the cost

這個價格

of a traditional incubator.

不到傳統保溫箱的0.1%

Over the next five years we hope to save the lives

接下來五年，我們希望

of almost a million babies.

能拯救一百萬個嬰兒的生命

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

長期來說，更能降低人口成長

This seems counterintuitive,

聽起來好像違背直覺

but turns out that as infant mortality is reduced,

但如果嬰兒死亡率降低

population sizes also decrease,

人口數也會降低

because parents don't need to anticipate

因為父母不用怕孩子會夭折

that their babies are going to die.

而生太多孩子

We hope that the Embrace infant warmer

希望這個產品 "溫暖的擁抱"

and other simple innovations like this

和其他類似的發明

represent a new trend for the future of technology:

代表未來科技的新方向

simple, localized, affordable solutions

簡單，便宜，又符合當地需求

that have the potential to make huge social impact.

對社會有巨大的影響力

In designing this we followed a few basic principles.

設計這個產品時，我們有幾項原則

We really tried to understand the end user,

我們努力了解使用者的需求

in this case, people like Sevitha.

也就是Sevitha他們的需求

We tried to understand the root of the problem

我們努力了解問題的根源

rather than being biased by what already exists.

不要受現有的東西影響

And then we thought of the most simple solution we could

並且，我們努力用最簡單的方法

to address this problem.

來解決問題

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

這樣一來，我相信科技能造福大眾

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

而"溫暖的擁抱"，能拯救數百萬的生命