THE CHAIR of an Evesham Pre-Eclampsia charity has been awarded the 2017 Newton Prize for his blood pressure monitoring device.
Professor Andrew Shennan, Chair of Action on Pre-Eclampsia (APEC), and Professor Shivaprasad Goudar have been handed £200,000 to help advance and develop their work.
The Newton Prize is an annual £1million fund for the best research or innovation that promotes economic development and social welfare in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Professors Shennan and Goudar were recognised for their work on ‘Evaluation of the Introduction of a Novel Device in the Management of Hypertension and Shock in Pregnancy in Low Resource Settings.’
The prize money will help to fund a project which is testing the introduction of a new vital sign device into routine maternity care at community hospitals in India, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Haiti.
Developed at KCL in London by Professor Shennan and Professor Goudar, the CRADLE Vital Signs Alert is a hand-held semi-automated device which measures blood pressure and pulse.
It detects hypertension and circulatory shock with an early warning system. The device is also affordable, easy-to-use and portable with low power requirements.
More than 3,000 devices have been delivered to hospitals and clinics, and successfully incorporated into routine care, sometimes as the first blood pressure device available in the clinic.
A simple training package has also been developed and more than 1,500 health care workers have been trained to use the device.
Results have found that the device strongly predicts the risks of complications and its introduction into maternity care will help save lives.
Professor Shennan said: “To be able to impact on care in those parts of the world where it is desperately needed has been our most fulfilling research experience.”
Marcus Green, CEO of APEC, said: “We could not be more proud of the CRADLE trial and it has been a privilege to be part of the ongoing work.
“The CRADLE VSA is absolutely brilliant, is cost effective and does exactly what it is meant to.”
