WATCH: Incubators Delivered To Ukrainian Hospitals

Jersey Overseas Aid is part-funding work to deliver light baby incubators to war-torn Ukraine.

They've been developed by British company mOm Incubators and weigh only 20kg, compared to traditional ones that weigh up to 100kg.

Doctors in Ukraine are seeing a sharp rise in premature births, because of the stress and trauma the conflict is having on pregnant women.

51 incubators are being sent to hospitals across Ukraine, with the first tranche arriving in the country today (31 May).

It is being jointly funded by Jersey Overseas Aid and a Jersey-based philanthropic foundation.

"We were made aware of these incubators by a local obstetrics and gynecology surgeon actually, who had mentioned an incubator that had been designed in the UK that was highly mobile, robust, and could be very easy to use and it sounded like a perfect intervention to get behind given access to medical services in Ukraine are currently very strained.

Picture Credit: mOm Incubators.

It seemed like a great opportunity for us to fill a gap and make a difference, in what is a very challenging situation." - Edward Lewis, Head of Programme.

The incubators are energy efficient and can run off several power sources with a backup battery, amid ongoing power outages across the country.

The co-founder of mOm Incubators thinks this could lead to 50 babies' lives being saved a week.

"The original inspiration for the mOm Essential Incubator came from a documentary that focussed on providing Neonatal care in challenging environments.

Helping the situation in Ukraine is confirmation that we are doing the right thing and are truly able to give clinicians a flexible solution to their problems not only in the NHS but globally.

Ultimately, we are helping clinicians save babies lives in difficult circumstances." - James Roberts, MoM CEO and co-founder.

Jersey Overseas Aid has also funded work to deliver emergency trauma kits for medics, ballistic vets and helmets for frontline responders, and oxygen concentrators.

Mr. Lewis says it's clear how tough being an expectant mum there is right now.

"Access to maternity services are incredibly challenging, the healthcare system is obviously overstretched, so being able to provide essential medical care for newborns is a great way of Jersey demonstrating its contribution to the Ukraine crisis.

Picture Credit: St Peter's NICU with parental permission.

I think Jersey should be proud of all of its achievements in terms of the Ukraine response.

Jersey has now contributed over £2million of humanitarian support to Ukraine and its neighbouring countries."