DURHAM, NC – A pouch the size of a fast-food tomato ketchup packet may soon be saving the lives of children born to HIV infected mothers in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to an award-winning project by students at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.

The Pratt School has earned a top “Smart Power Innovation” recognition from the Washington, DC-based U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) for its groundbreaking innovation that prevents the transmission of HIV from mother to child – making antiretroviral medication accessible to thousands of women in remote areas.

The Pratt School of Engineering has been selected as one of 30 leading innovators across America tackling some of the world’s toughest problems in the “Innovations in Smart Power: Impact at Home & Abroad” report.

The Pratt Pouch is the result of a student-driven project focused on extending the life of HIV medication and making it available to mothers before birth and throughout breastfeeding.

The result is a pouch as small as a fast-food ketchup packet that has the ability to maintain the potency of antiretroviral l drugs for at least 12 months. After the pouch is filled with medication, it is sealed using an electric heat sealer. Once a mother gives birth, she simply tears the pouch open and squeezes the medication into her baby’s mouth.

The transmission of HIV from mother to child during the birthing process poses a great risk in sub-Saharan Africa.

While many clinics have drugs such as Nevirapine (NVP) and Zidovudine (AZT), a large percentage of women still deliver at home. To be effective the child must receive this medication within 24 hours of birth. Earlier attempts at prevention used syringes, cups, spoons, and other methods to deliver medication that often dried up before reaching mothers in need.

“I challenged my students to discover the problem and find a solution. The result is a product that truly goes above and beyond existing technology,” said Dr. Robert Malkin, Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Pratt. “There are about 400,000 HIV-positive babies born every year. Our goal is to reduce that to about 100,000 cases per year, and we think it’s doable with the Pratt Pouch.”

So far there have been clinical trials in Ecuador, Zambia and Tanzania. Results are already being seen in Zambia, where 49 mothers were able to prevent transmitting HIV to their unborn children.

In addition to financial support from The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the project has received two rounds of $250,000 seed funding from USAID. With these government grants, 30 undergraduates were able to turn a risky idea into a game-changing solution.

“The Pratt Pouch is one of the best examples of a smart, powerful innovation that is changing the world and making a difference at home in Durham,” said Liz Schrayer, Executive Director of USGLC. “Using the power of the public sector, U.S. investments in global development are enabling innovators like the Pratt School of Engineering to take risks, bring their products to scale, and truly do well by doing good.”

As a “Smart Power Innovation,” the Pratt Pouch will be spotlighted with other innovations across the country and online as a model of how public and private sectors have partnered to develop innovative solutions to global problems.