Medical Devices for Hospitals and NGOs: How to Source the Right products for Maternal and Newborn Care

Every year, approximately 287,000 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Nearly 2.3 million newborns do not survive their first month of life. The vast majority of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries — not because the right medical devices do not exist, but because the right products are not reaching the right facilities at the right time.

For hospitals in underserved settings and NGOs working in humanitarian or development contexts, sourcing reliable, evidence-based medical devices is one of the most consequential — and often most complex — responsibilities a procurement team faces. The stakes are not measured in budget line items. They are measured in lives.

This guide is written for procurement officers, medical directors, and program managers at hospitals, health ministries, international NGOs, and humanitarian organisations who are seeking the right medical devices for maternal health, neonatal care, and diagnostics. It covers what to look for, which device categories matter most, and how to navigate the sourcing process with confidence.

Why Medical Device Procurement Is Different in Global Health Settings

Hospitals and NGOs operating in low-resource settings face a procurement environment that is fundamentally different from high-income country healthcare systems. Devices must meet a different set of standards — not lower standards, but differently calibrated ones.

A neonatal monitoring device that requires stable electricity, trained biomedical engineers, and climate-controlled storage may perform excellently in a London hospital and fail entirely at a district health centre in South Sudan. The clinical evidence might be identical. The real-world utility is not.

When procuring medical devices for global health settings, the key dimensions to evaluate go beyond the device itself:

Durability and field-readiness:  Can the device withstand heat, humidity, dust, and frequent handling by rotating staff? What happens if it is dropped? What is the mean time between failures?

Ease of use: Can a community health worker with limited formal training use this device correctly after a short orientation? Or does it require a specialist to operate? 

Supply chain sustainability:  Will consumables and replacement parts be available in-country, or will every replacement require an international shipment? Devices with complex supply dependencies can become expensive paperweights within months of deployment.

Evidence-based: Is there published clinical evidence supporting this device's performance in settings similar to yours? Has it been evaluated in low- and middle-income countries, or only in high-income settings where the patient population, staff capacity, and facility infrastructure differ significantly?

Regulatory and quality standards: Does the device carry CE marking, WHO prequalification, or FDA clearance? Is the manufacturer ISO 13485 certified? These are not bureaucratic checkboxes — they are indicators of manufacturing quality and accountability.

Cost-effectiveness at scale: A device that costs twice as much but lasts three times as long and reduces maternal mortality may be the more cost-effective choice. Procurement teams should model the total cost of ownership, not just unit price.

The Most Critical Device Categories for Maternal and Newborn Health

1. Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) Prevention and Treatment Devices

Postpartum haemorrhage is the single leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide, responsible for approximately 27% of all maternal deaths. It is also highly preventable and treatable when the right products are available at the point of care.

Calibrated Obstetric Drapes allow clinical staff to measure blood loss accurately and objectively immediately after delivery. Studies have shown that visual estimation of blood loss — the default in most facilities without a calibrated drape — underestimates actual blood loss by 30–50%, delaying critical interventions. A calibrated drape that collects and measures blood loss in a graduated collection pouch gives clinicians an objective trigger for action. They cost a few dollars per delivery and require no electricity, training beyond a brief demonstration, or maintenance.

Uterine Balloon Tamponade (UBT) Devices provide a non-surgical, non-pharmacological method of controlling PPH by applying direct pressure to the uterus via an inflated balloon catheter. For facilities without surgical capacity — which describes the majority of district hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia — balloon tamponade can be a lifesaving bridge intervention while a patient is stabilised or transferred. Silicone balloon tamponade catheters are now available at costs accessible to NGOs and government procurement programmes.

Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garments (NASGs) are evidence-based first-aid devices that apply circumferential counter-pressure to the lower body, reducing blood flow to non-vital areas and maintaining perfusion to the heart, lungs, and brain during haemorrhagic shock. NASGs have been studied extensively in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and have been shown to reduce maternal mortality when used as a bridge to definitive care. They require no electricity, no training beyond basic instruction, and can be applied by a skilled birth attendant within minutes.

The MaternaWell Tray™ is an integrated postpartum care solution that combines blood loss measurement with a vessel to organize and keep clean the delivery table. Designed with input from labour and delivery midwives and nurses, it reduces clutter, standardises the birth space, and ensures that critical products are immediately at hand during the most dangerous moments of delivery.

2. Vital Signs Monitoring for Obstetric Emergencies

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy — including preeclampsia and eclampsia — are the second leading cause of maternal mortality globally. Early detection requires accurate, accessible blood pressure monitoring. In many low-resource settings, this means devices that are portable, simple to use, and algorithmically designed to flag danger quickly.

The CRADLE Vital Signs Alert (VSA) Monitor was developed through a clinical research programme specifically designed for low-resource settings and validated in large-scale trials. It measures blood pressure and heart rate and uses a traffic-light alert system that requires no interpretation: green means safe, yellow means observe, red means act. Community health workers and skilled birth attendants can use it without extensive clinical training in blood pressure interpretation. It has been validated against reference standards in multiple LMICs and is recommended by clinical guidelines for use at the community level.

For NGOs deploying community health worker programmes and for hospitals seeking to extend antenatal monitoring capacity, the CRADLE monitor addresses one of the clearest gaps in obstetric care delivery.

3. Neonatal Resuscitation and Respiratory Support

Approximately one million babies die each year from birth asphyxia — the failure to breathe at birth. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable with timely, effective newborn resuscitation. The challenge is not technological complexity; it is the availability of the right equipment and trained hands.

Infant Resuscitators (Neonatal Ambu Bags) are foundational products for any facility conducting deliveries. A self-inflating bag-mask resuscitator, properly sized for neonates and made from durable silicone for sterilisability and longevity, should be present at every delivery. Its absence from a delivery kit represents an unacceptable gap in essential newborn care.

Pumani Bubble CPAP systems provide continuous positive airway pressure for premature neonates and infants presenting with respiratory distress syndrome, the leading cause of death in premature babies. Unlike conventional ventilators, which require significant technical infrastructure and biomedical support, bubble CPAP systems use a simple mechanism that creates positive pressure through a water chamber. The Pumani bCPAP was designed for low-resource hospitals and has been evaluated in multiple African and South Asian settings. It has been shown to reduce neonatal mortality from respiratory distress at a fraction of the cost of conventional CPAP.

For NGOs equipping referral hospitals or district hospitals in high-prematurity-burden settings, bubble CPAP should be considered a priority procurement.

4. Neonatal Temperature Management

Hypothermia — defined as a core body temperature below 36.5°C — is an underappreciated contributor to neonatal mortality that disproportionately affects premature and low-birth-weight infants. Even in tropical climates, newborns lose heat rapidly after birth if not immediately dried, wrapped, and kept warm.

ThermoSpot Visual Thermoindicators are reusable, stick-on devices applied to a newborn's skin that change colour to signal normal temperature, low temperature, or hypothermia. They require no batteries, no reading, and no training beyond understanding a simple colour change. For postnatal wards, health centres, and community settings where electronic thermometers may be absent or staff may forget to check temperature, ThermoSpots provide a passive, continuous visual alert.

The Celsi Monitor offers continuous temperature monitoring for newborns using a soft, reusable probe and silicone harness that attaches to the infant's chest. Designed for neonatal units in facilities that care for premature or high-risk newborns, it alerts caregivers to temperature changes before they become critical — addressing the problem that by the time hypothermia is detected through periodic thermometry, a baby may already be in distress.

Infant Mylar Wraps are sterile, single-use thermal blankets that reflect the infant's own body heat, preventing heat loss immediately after delivery or during transport. They are lightweight, inexpensive, and require no instructions to use. For NGOs equipping birth kits or emergency obstetric kits, they represent exceptional value.

5. Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Antenatal and Postnatal Care

Accurate, timely diagnosis is the prerequisite for effective treatment. In low-resource settings, the absence of laboratory infrastructure does not eliminate the need for diagnosis — it demands a different approach to it.

Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have transformed the delivery of essential diagnostics in settings where laboratory capacity is absent or unreliable. For maternal health programmes, the most impactful RDTs include:

• HIV rapid tests — including combination HIV-1/2 tests and Hepatitis B/C/HIV triple combination tests — for antenatal screening programmes, which are the cornerstone of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)

• Syphilis and HIV combination rapid tests — enabling simultaneous antenatal screening for two of the most consequential infections in pregnancy

• Procalcitonin rapid tests for detection of sepsis — the third leading cause of maternal mortality — enabling earlier antibiotic decision-making at the bedside

• Gonorrhoea rapid tests for antenatal STI screening programmes

• Schistosomiasis rapid tests for maternal health programmes in endemic regions of sub-Saharan Africa

The BiliDx Bilirubinometer provides transcutaneous measurement of bilirubin levels in newborns, enabling non-invasive screening for jaundice without blood draws. Jaundice is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and many cases of severe hyperbilirubinaemia — with its risk of kernicterus and permanent brain damage — are missed simply because there is no easy way to screen for it at the bedside. The BiliDx provides accurate, affordable, non-invasive bilirubin measurement accessible to any nurse or midwife.

6. Diagnostics and Monitoring for Child Health

ChARM (Children's Automated Respiration Monitor) addresses one of the most critical — and consistently unreliable — clinical assessments in child health: breath counting for pneumonia diagnosis. Pneumonia remains the leading infectious killer of children under five globally. The WHO case management algorithm for pneumonia is based on respiratory rate, and yet multiple studies have demonstrated that manual breath counting by community health workers is inaccurate, time-consuming, and subject to significant inter-observer variability.

ChARM automates breath counting over a timed interval, displaying the result and flagging fast breathing with a simple red-light alert. Field testing in Ethiopia demonstrated that health extension workers found ChARM faster, more reliable, and easier to explain to caregivers than manual counting. For NGOs operating community health worker programmes and for hospitals seeking to standardise pneumonia triage, ChARM addresses a real and documented clinical gap.

Navigating the Procurement Process: What NGOs and Hospitals Should Know

UN Global Marketplace and Pre-Approved Vendors

For UN agencies, UNFPA, UNICEF, and NGOs procuring under UN frameworks, working with pre-approved vendors on the UN Global Marketplace significantly reduces administrative burden and assures baseline quality standards. Maternova is registered as a vendor on the UN Global Marketplace, enabling direct procurement by qualifying organisations.

WHO Prequalification and Device Standards

For devices used in government health programmes, WHO prequalification provides independent assurance of quality, safety, and performance. Not all devices require WHO prequalification, but for diagnostic tests used in national programmes — particularly HIV rapid tests and antenatal screening tests — prequalification is often a procurement requirement. Understanding which devices in your portfolio carry this designation simplifies compliance.

Minimum Order Quantities and Bulk Procurement

Many hospitals and NGOs underestimate the logistical demands of device procurement for large-scale programmes. Minimum order quantities, lead times, cold chain requirements for some diagnostics, customs documentation, and in-country distribution all affect the practical availability of a device. Working with a supplier that has experience in global logistics and supply chain and that can advise on regulatory requirements for specific destination countries reduces programme risk.

Training and Implementation Support

A device deployed without adequate training will not perform. When evaluating suppliers, procurement officers should ask not just about device specifications but about the training resources, clinical guides, and implementation support available. The best global health device suppliers provide implementation resources — quick-reference guides, training videos, and clinical support materials — that are appropriate to the literacy levels and professional backgrounds of end users.

How Maternova Supports Hospital and NGO Procurement

Maternova was founded specifically to serve the gap between medical innovation and the facilities that need it most. As a mission-driven company focused on maternal, newborn, and child health, we have built our catalogue around the evidence — curating only devices and diagnostics with demonstrated clinical value in real-world low-resource settings.

Our product catalogue spans the full continuum of maternal and newborn care: from antenatal diagnostics and vital signs monitoring through labour and delivery products, postpartum haemorrhage prevention and treatment, newborn resuscitation and temperature management, to child health diagnostics. All of our products are selected on the basis of their evidence base, field-readiness, cost-effectiveness, and alignment with WHO clinical guidelines.

We supply hospitals, humanitarian and development organisations, Ministries of Health, and distributors across more than 65 countries. We are a pre-approved vendor on the UN Global Marketplace. We have impacted over 4.1 million lives since 2015.

For hospitals and NGOs, we offer:

• Direct procurement of evidence-based devices and diagnostics with global shipping

• Bulk and institutional pricing for programme-scale orders

• Technical consultation to help match your clinical context to the right device

• White papers and clinical evidence summaries to support procurement decision-making and donor reporting

• Implementation resources for device deployment and staff training

If you are equipping a maternity unit, a humanitarian medical team, a community health worker programme, or a national antenatal care initiative, we would welcome the conversation.

The Bottom Line

The technology to prevent most maternal and newborn deaths already exists. The devices that can detect haemorrhage before it becomes fatal, resuscitate a baby who is not breathing, monitor blood pressure in a remote clinic, and screen for HIV in an antenatal visit — these are not experimental innovations. They are proven products.

The gap between these products and the women and babies who need them is a supply chain problem, a procurement problem, and an information problem. Hospitals and NGOs that understand what to look for, how to evaluate device quality, and how to source reliably have the power to close that gap — one facility, one programme, and one delivery kit at a time.

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Maternova Inc. is a mission-driven global women's health solutions company. We license and distribute medical technologies for maternal, newborn, and child health, with a focus on affordable, evidence-based innovations for hospitals, clinics, NGOs, and government health facilities. Registered vendor on the UN Global Marketplace. Distributing into 65+ countries since 2015.