Masimo Announces Support for the Every Newborn Action Plan to Reduce Global Newborn Mortality
Oxymètre de pouls iSpO2 Rx avec connecteur M-LNCS. Click here for high-resolution version

IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 27, 2014) - Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) today announced its unconditional commitment to the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), a global initiative to end preventable deaths of newborns. Coordinated by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, with the support of a broad group of partners, ENAP identifies actions for improving survival, health and development of newborns. Globally, about 3.3 million newborns die annually within the first month of life, with neonatal infection, sepsis, pneumonia and birth defects among the major killers, according to the World Health Organization.

ENAP's mission is in lockstep with the commitments of Masimo, its longstanding partner the nonprofit Newborn Foundation, and the nonprofit Patient Safety Movement Foundation, to reducing preventable newborn deaths.

In late 2013, Masimo launched iSpO2 Rx, the first commercial, medical-grade Masimo SET® Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion™ pulse oximeter technology for mobile devices in conjunction with the Newborn Foundation's BORN Project - Birth Oximetry Routine for Newborns. iSpO2 Rx is ideally suited to low-resource areas. iSpO2 Rx for neonate and infant use is currently available in certain countries such as India, Cambodia, Kenya and Guatemala.*

Masimo and the Newborn Foundation spent nearly two years working with public health officials, delivery hospitals, and clinicians to create the first viable, measure-through motion and low perfusion, mobile-enabled pulse oximetry technology that can be adopted as part of routine neonatal screening for hypoxemia. In addition to Masimo's financial contributions to the BORN Project China, Masimo's engineering, design, and technical teams spent thousands of hours researching, designing and developing a mobile medical device that would serve the needs of health workers and babies in the lowest resource settings.

"We have found that this simple, noninvasive check of oxygen levels in newborns is among the most effective health measures that can be deployed to reduce newborn mortality," said Annamarie Saarinen, co-founder and CEO of the Newborn Foundation, who is scheduled to speak Monday at the ENAP Partner's Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa. "Through our partnership with Masimo, we are eager to help fulfill the goals of the ENAP initiative, saving and improving newborn lives."

Patient Safety Movement Foundation President Jim Bialick, also is scheduled to speak Monday at the ENAP Partner's Forum, and will address the need for easily accessible and highly reliable technologies to improve newborn healthcare worldwide.