Monash is seeking to develop an affordable heat-stable, self-contained, simple to administer inhaled delivery system for oxytocin. Such a product removes the challenges associated with access and use of the current oxytocin product and has the potential to ensure that a high-quality oxytocin product is accessible to women with greatest need. The project is innovative as it would, for the first time, provide an effective oxytocin product that does not rely on cold chain supply and storage to maintain quality or the presence of healthcare workers trained to safely administer injections. Current uterotonic products are presented either as injections susceptible to degradation in ambient conditions or, in the case of misoprostol tablets, do not provide the level of efficacy possible with oxytocin. The proposed inhaled oxytocin product presents the potential of delivering the gold standard therapy in a robust form that simplifies administration at a cost equivalent to current products. As such, this innovative product has the potential to significantly expand access to oxytocin across low- and middle-income countries by creating efficiencies within busy facilities, administration to lower tier healthcare workers and birth attendants.

Our idea is to develop BreathAlert, a $25 battery-powered monitor that detects and automatically corrects apnea. BreathAlert is a stretchy band placed around a baby's chest to detect if breathing has stopped; if apnea occurs, coin-sized vibrating motors in the strap are activated and the vibration automatically stimulates the baby to resume breathing.

Our objective is to develop a low-cost Smartphone attachment and application to diagnose and treat bacterial neonatal pneumonia in Pakistan. Currently, serious bacterial infection - pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis - results in preventable deaths of 700,000 neonates every year, 99% dying in resource limited settings such as Pakistan. Signs of serious infection in young babies are difficult to recognize. Diagnostic tests and chest X-rays are rarely available outside tertiary care hospitals. The proposed device has the potential to identify and treat bacterial pneumonia quickly and decrease mortality. Our technology is an attachment that snaps on to a Smartphone and acquires, then displays a thermal image of a neonate's lungs. An application (app) will calculate the chance a neonate has bacterial pneumonia, based on the presence of "hot spots" or temperature differences which represent the increased blood flow/inflammation that occurs with bacterial pneumonia. The app will produce a read-out recommending treatment with antibiotics if the thermal image is consistent with bacterial pneumonia. The attachment and app will work with most Smartphones that are increasingly available globally and will be powered by the Smartphone's battery. It will take minutes to acquire and process the images. No specialized equipment or technical expertise by the user will be needed. The device is non-invasive, low risk, easy to use and incurs a one-time (not per test) expense which is minimal compared to X-rays.

Iron deficiency is a major contributor to maternal death. Improving the health of women through iron fortification of a universally consumed food vehicle will result in significant saving of lives at birth. Tea is universally consumed in South Asia; however, iron forms complexes in tea, reducing bioavailability, and thus thwarting earlier fortification attempts. Our approach will make tea viable as an iron fortification vehicle. We will develop spray-encapsulated iron premix that will be attached to tea leaves, and released into hot water during brewing, without altering the tea's sensory attributes. Iron will be encapsulated in enteric coating to prevent formation of non-bioavailable tannin complex in the stomach, the coating will dissolve in the small intestines to expose a high bioavailability self-emulsifying iron delivery system. Our innovations are: (1) the encapsulation/microemulsion approach which protects iron in the stomach and enhances absorption in the lower GI, and (2) using tea as the fortification vehicle which will ease adoption because no user behavior change will be required.