The duo namely, Matthew Mnchenula and Timothy Hara studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering respectively.

The device has a temperature sensor that is placed on an Axillary artery of an expectant woman to detect either if she has high, low or normal body temperatures respectively.

The high fever or temperature, which is called Intrapartum may be caused by communicable or non-communicable infections.

This fever may result to premature birth, miscarriages, low-birth weight among babies, birth defects, and prolonged labour.

Mnchenula said they thought of coming up with the device after noted that there are many cases of intrapartum fever among women in rural areas which go unnoticed due to poor health service. 

“Currently in Malawi one in every ten women experiences Intrapartum fever which may lead to serious maternal and neonatal complications. Most of times this fever goes unnoticed due to lack of digital Thermometers in many hospitals. So we thought it wise to develop this device to minimize these cases in our country as it is user friendly and good for environment,” he explained.

A medical Officer at College of Medicine Private Clinic, Dr Chifundo Mapemba hailed the duo for innovation as the device will help to minimize workforce in areas that there are few health workers. 

“In our setting where we have shortage of health workers, this device will help free up time. This is so, as it offers continuous monitoring of the pregnant women body temperature and beeps to alert to nurses if they have developed intrapartum fever,” Dr Mapemba said.

Dr Mapemba further said it will be a useful tool in High Dependency Units (HDU) where patients need frequent body temperature monitoring.

The device has been manufactured and designed in a way that nurses and doctors will be alerted by producing a sound when a woman is having either high or low body temperatures.  Furthermore, it has LDC which will display all the temperature readings for a patient and can be installed in the wards.