14 Million Women Annually Experience PPH
Every year, about 14 million women experience postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), a condition where a woman loses too much blood after giving birth. PPH is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide, and it is especially prevalent in low- and middle-income countries where access to skilled care and blood transfusions is limited. But even in high-income countries like the US, PPH is a serious threat to maternal health. The US has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, and PPH accounts for 11% of these deaths. Disturbingly, black women in the US are three times more likely to die from PPH than white women, underscoring the racial disparities that pervade maternal health outcomes.
PPH Is Largely Preventable
The tragedy of PPH is that it is largely preventable. If detected and treated early, most cases of PPH can be managed with simple and inexpensive interventions, such as uterine massage, medication, or balloon tamponade. However, the current standard of care for diagnosing PPH relies on visual estimation of blood loss, which is notoriously inaccurate and subjective. Studies have shown that clinicians tend to underestimate blood loss by 30% to 50% and miss up to 70% of cases of severe PPH. This means that many women who are at risk of bleeding to death are not identified or treated in time.
Armor Medical’s Solution
The team of biomedical engineers and clinicians at Armor Medical Inc. have developed an early-warning system for hemorrhage: Maternal aRMOR. Maternal aRMOR is a non-invasive wearable that enables providers to detect early hemorrhage, precisely when inexpensive and accessible treatments are most effective. The Maternal aRMOR system consists of a light-based sensor that is worn on the mother’s wrist during and after labor. This wearable is seamlessly integrated with a wirelessly connected patient monitor. The key to Maternal aRMOR’s breakthrough technology lies in its ability to capture the subtle nuances of peripheral blood flow— and the telltale signs of early hemorrhage as the body instinctively redirects blood to safeguard vital organs. Maternal aRMOR monitors these intricate shifts, providing real-time and quantitative insights to healthcare providers.
How Femovate Helps
Armor Medical was awarded sponsorship through Guidea’s Femovate program in 2022 and 2023.
As part of the Femovate sponsorship, the digital health experts at Guidea are working with Kelsey Mayo and her team to envision the digital experience for healthcare providers and patients. Starting with the patient journey map, we identified potential solutions for remote patient monitoring for postpartum mothers. We then pivoted to creating the provider journey complete with storyboards and prototypes for the healthcare providers for each stage of labor, delivery, and postpartum care. These prototypes will be used for design validation with providers in parallel with testing the wearable device.
Guidea recently nominated Armor Medical for Fast Company’s “Next Big Thing in Tech” award and we hope they are as impressed as we are with this team’s innovative solution to save women’s lives.
Armor Medical has already received two awards through the National Institutes of Health RadX Tech Maternal Health Challenge in recognition of their innovative technology and its ability to reduce maternal mortality worldwide, as well as a substantial grant from the CDC through the SBIR program.
“Theresa Neil and her team at Guidea are outstanding partners. The Guidea team brought their considerable experience in FemTech and MedTech to help us design our patient monitor UI. Their approach to design is creative, strategic, and centered around our users. They also went out of their way to point us to additional opportunities in their network to help us grow our brand and business. I highly recommend partnering with Guidea for their exceptional service and UX design.”
–Kelsey Mayo Co-Founder & CEO Armor Medical Inc.
For more information about Armor Medical Inc., visit https://armormedical.us/ and follow them on LinkedIn
For more information on Femovate visit www.femovate.com and follow us on LinkedIn
For interviews please contact Theresa Neil
