Hippolite Amadi, a Nigerian and Professor of Medical Engineering and Technology, has won a $100,000 prize for emerging as the winner of the Nigerian Prize for Science 2023.
Mr Amadi, a visiting professor at the Imperial College
London, emerged this year’s winner of the annual award with his work on
respiratory technologies for keeping Nigerian newborns alive.
Winning entry
Announcing the winner of the Nigeria LNG Limited
(NLNG)-sponsored annual award, the Prize’s Advisory Board, led by Barth Nnaji,
a professor, said the winning work was based on the theme: “Innovation for
Enhancement of Healthcare Therapy”.
The winning innovations comprise a Non-invasive Neonatal
Ventilator (NIV), an Oxygen Delivery Blender System, and an Oxygen Splitter
System, all powered by solar energy.
The NIV is considered the gold standard in the care of
preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).
Mr Nnaji said Mr Amadi’s work has not only significantly
advanced neonatal care in Nigeria and similar countries, but it has also
further improved access and lowered the cost of neonatal care by causing an
observed reduction in the market prices of the competing and existing devices.
“The entry showcased three (3) technological innovations
aimed at saving the lives of neonates by making the delivery of oxygen cheap
and easy. The first innovation is the non-invasive Neonatal Ventilator, a key
invention (The bubble Polite CPAP) for continuous positive airway pressure
(CPAP) ventilation of very-low-birth-weight neonates, a feasible alternative to
the readily available improvised bubble CPAP (IBCPAP) in cost-constrained
settings.
“The second and third innovations are the Oxygen Delivery
Blender System, which allows for the safe delivery of oxygen without the danger
of toxicity, and the Oxygen Splitter System, which allows for the use of a
shared source of oxygen to many neonates at a time, in situations where piped
oxygen is not available. These devices are all solar powered,” he stated.
He stated further that the devices have been tried by
practitioners at various hospitals across Nigeria, adding that there are
reports from those hospitals that the innovation, PoliteCPAP, is an improvement
on the existing device as it provides access to ventilators and oxygen delivery
simultaneously to neonates at an extremely reduced cost of N750,000 as against
N6.5 million for the existing device with comparable and better efficiency.
Presidency commends innovation
President Bola Tinubu has also congratulated the winner and
commended innovations that have reduced neonatal care costs significantly and
saved lives in hospitals that have adopted the use of the solar-powered
neonatal ventilator.
The president commended Mr Amadi for leveraging his
extensive background in medical engineering and technology, with a special
focus on affordable medical systems, for the betterment, progress, and benefit
of Nigerians and humanity in general.
“This significant work by this great Nigerian scientist will
contribute to keeping more Nigerian children alive after birth and preparing
them for a better future as positive change makers and influencers both at home
and abroad,” reads a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media
& Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
Mr Amadi obtained a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical
Engineering and a Masters of Engineering Technology and Management from the
Enugu State University of Technology in 1988 and 1991 respectively.
He also obtained a Master of Engineering in Medicine at the
Imperial College, London in 2002 and a Doctorate in Orthopaedic Biomechanics at
the same institution in 2006.
Professor Amadi is currently a visiting professor of Medical
Engineering and Technology at the Imperial College London. Before his work at
Imperial College, he was a professor of Medical Technology at Imo State
University.
His career spans over three decades, cutting across
engineering in healthcare, orthopaedics, and neonatology research. He is also
the author of the book “Born to Live, Not to Die.”
His present role at Imperial College London focuses on
Frugal Medical Technology for low- and middle-income countries. This runs
alongside his position as the Principal Consultant at Neonatal Concerns for
Africa charity organisation.
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