EarlySense, an Israel pioneer in contact-free continuous monitoring solutions in healthcare, was selected for a pilot project with Save the Children, an international nonprofit that works in 120 countries.

Supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EarlySense’s contact-free sensor — placed under the mattress with no patient contact — will be tested at a teaching hospital and a maternity hospital to monitor neonates in Nairobi, Kenya.

According to USAID, Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s highest newborn death rate (34 per 1,000 births). EarlySense will enable nurses and physicians to track heart rate, respiratory rate and motion continuously and be alerted to potential adverse events.

“EarlySense’s contact-free continuous monitoring technology is a novel approach in newborn care,” said Rasa Izadnegahdar, deputy director on the Maternal Newborn Child Health Discovery & Tools team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We look forward to the evaluation by Save the Children and using the results to inform best practices in the clinical care of vulnerable newborns born in low and middle-income countries.”

EarlySense has not been used before to monitor neonates, but its sensors are found in hospitals, rehab and skilled nursing facilities around the world. The FDA-cleared and CE-approved solution has been clinically proven to help healthcare providers to prevent adverse events, including “code blues,” preventable ICU transfers, patient falls, pressure ulcers and hospital readmissions.

“Part of Save the Children’s core mission is to give every child a healthy start at life,” said Dr. Amy Ginsburg, head of Save the Children’s Technology Accelerator Unit. “We are excited to assess EarlySense’s technology among newborns in African hospitals.”

EarlySense is based in Ramat Gan (Israel) and Woburn, Massachusetts.