In Sudan and Zambia, Embrace Global's Infant Warmers Became National Protocol. Uganda Is Next.

Babies and Mothers Alive (BAMA) and Embrace Global expand access to infant warmers in Uganda.

MURRIETA, CA, UNITED STATES, August 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In Sudan, Embrace Global's infant warmers are now written into the national newborn care training manual. In Zambia, the Ministry of Health is including them in the sixth edition of the country's neonatal transport standards. Neither started as a national policy win. Both started the same way this one does: a shipment, a training, a health system deciding the tool was worth keeping.

Embrace Global is partnering with BAMA to deliver 541 infant warmers across the Greater Masaka and Rwenzori regions of Uganda. The devices will be placed according to BAMA's own needs assessment across its network of 92 health facilities and 41 government ambulances, not distributed evenly but positioned at each specific point where a newborn is most likely to lose the fight against cold: delivery rooms, operating theatres, newborn care units, and the ambulances that move a baby between them.

Arriving as health systems in the region work to recover from a recent Ebola outbreak, the timing matters. A shipment like this one does double duty. It gets warmers to babies now, and it builds the evidence base BAMA and Embrace will bring to Uganda's Ministry of Health, the same case that has already worked in two other countries.

Uganda's neonatal mortality stands at 22 deaths per 1,000 live births[1], more than eight times the rate in the United States. That number is the reason BAMA exists. It's also the reason Embrace doesn't consider its job finished once devices ship. Healthcare providers across participating facilities will be trained in device setup, safe handling, cleaning, and reporting, folded directly into BAMA's existing mentorship visits so thermal care becomes part of what health workers already do, not an added task.

"BAMA has the relationships and expertise on the ground. We're bringing the equipment and the training to match it. That is how this becomes evidence for national scale-up, not just one shipment," said Melody Westen, CEO of Embrace Global. "We've watched this exact path work in Sudan and Zambia. A device shows up. A health system tests it, trusts it, and eventually writes it into how things are done. That's the only kind of scale that lasts."

"BAMA has spent twenty years building trusted partnerships with the communities and health workers across Masaka and recently in Rwenzori and Busoga regions. The partnership with Embrace Global lets us bring that trust to something concrete: a warmer in the delivery room, in the theatre, in the ambulance, wherever a newborn need one; with device deployment embedded into ongoing BAMA-supported government-led newborn care improvement initiatives. We have a long way to go before every facility in our network is covered, but this is the kind of collaboration that gets us there," said Dr. Daniel Murokora, Executive Director, BAMA Foundation.

"In the NICU, every second matters. We care for babies small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, fighting battles they should never have to face so early in life. Access to essential thermal care, oxygen, CPAP, trained staff, and quality newborn care gives these tiny fighters a real chance to survive and thrive. The most emotional moment for us is seeing a mother finally carry her baby home healthy after days or weeks of uncertainty. That is why strengthening neonatal care is so important," said Justine, a midwife with BAMA.

In Zambia, a similar partnership model has produced strong early results, including a run of consecutive ambulance transfers where babies arrived at normal body temperature. Those results are part of why Zambia's Ministry of Health is now folding the device into national standards. BAMA and Embrace are building toward the same outcome in Uganda: proof at the facility level that becomes policy at the national level.

With 150 warmers now moving into Masaka and Rwenzori, and 364 more identified as necessary to fully saturate BAMA's network, this is a first shipment, not a finished project. Embrace Global and BAMA are already building the case for what comes next.

[1] Uganda Bureau of Statistics 2023. Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2022 Volume 1. Kampala, Uganda: UBOS.

About Babies and Mothers Alive Foundation (BAMA)
BAMA is a locally led nonprofit in Uganda working to close the gaps that cause preventable maternal and newborn deaths in Uganda, where 189 women die for every 100,000 live births and 36 infants die for every 1,000 live births from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Grounded in the belief that the real experts are local, BAMA partners with communities and health systems to address the Three Delays: the delay in deciding to seek care, the delay in reaching care, and the delay in receiving quality care once there. Learn more at babiesandmothersalive.org.

About Embrace Global
Embrace Global is a nonprofit delivering life-saving warmth to vulnerable newborns in fragile health systems across more than 30 countries. Embrace does not donate devices. It builds solutions, combining equipment, training, and partnership, to prevent neonatal hypothermia and strengthen health systems from the inside. Since its founding, Embrace has helped more than 1.4 million babies. Its goal is to reach 5 million babies a year by 2035. Learn more at embraceglobal.org.

Media Relationsl
Embrace Globa
media@embraceglobal.org
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube

Creating a World of Warmth for Every Baby