Vivian Arinaitwe: Engineering Hope for Uganda’s Newborns
Imagine your newborn baby in a jerrican. It sounds absurd, until you understand the brilliance behind it. Vivian Arinaitwe, a 24-year-old biomedical engineer from Bushenyi, Western Uganda, is reimagining neonatal care for rural communities. Her journey began with her own birth. Her mother was carried on a sand truck to a primary birth attendant, where she was born in her amniotic sac, and was nearly abandoned because no one knew what to do. Eventually, someone popped the sac. “I reflect on my birth often,” she says. “It fuels my resolve to give babies a chance at life, no matter where they are born or how much money their parents have.” Growing up, Vivian witnessed the harsh realities of rural healthcare. Mothers walked for hours to reach facilities without incubators or infant warmers. Babies died on the road. It was a story she heard often: “So-and-so’s baby turned blue,” or “So-and-so’s baby died on the road,” or “She gave birth on the road.” She considered becoming a doctor to...
