WINSENGA: INNOVATIVE DEVICE FOR ANTENATAL CARE

Modified Fetal Stethoscope Designed and Made In Africa

African start-up Cipher256 Co has made a lot of progress in recent times, but is still searching for the funds to push it into a more stable period of growth. Its flagship product WinSenga could truly revolutionize infant antenatal care in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is essentially a mobile foetal heart rate monitor, that combines a modified pinard fetal stethoscope with a microphone that connects to a smartphone. The WinSenga app allows the user to record and analyze the unborn baby’s heart rate in the womb.

In 2012 WinSenga creator Joshua Okello and his co-founder Aaron Tushabe were the first Sub-Saharan African team to be awarded the prestigious Microsoft Imagine Cup Grant, worth US$50,000. WinSenga gives a midwife or clinician the ability to quickly and affordably care for pregnant mothers. It records fetal heart rate and suggests a best course of action. Using a traditional fetoscope the midwife must first search for and locate the baby’s heart and then use the pinard horn to listen for the baby’s heart rate. WinSenga simplifies this process to placing the modified pinard horn onto the mother’s belly and instantly recording the fetal heart rate. The records from the device can be sent directly to the mother by text which keeps her engaged in the process and provides her with a record for future reference.