If donating via pay pal is not convenient for you, there are other ways to donate to LIFE:

1. You can pay by card through LIFE's personal University of Oxford giving page. http://ouinnov.co/1U3ZYp5

2. You can send a cheque payable to OUDT (Oxford University Development Trust) to Dr Sarah Deakin, Isis Innovation, Buxton Court, 3 West Way, Botley, Oxford, OX2 0SZ.

3. You can phone Amy Cox (01865 611556) or Naomi Hope (01865 611529) at the University's Development Office to pay by card.

470,000 babies die each year in Africa on the day they are born. This figure increases to 1 million deaths within the first 28 days. The LIFE project directly addresses this avoidable tragedy by using low-cost smartphones to give as many healthcare workers as possible the knowledge they need to provide life-saving treatment to mothers and newborns.

Help us raise £100,000 to build the LIFE-changing game. 

Meet the team

Introducing our international team based in Oxford and Kenya. Leading the charge is myself, Prof. Mike English. I have worked in Kenya for 20 years in prenatal and neonatal care. Joining me are Dr Chris Paton, Dr Hilary Edgcombe and Jakob Rossner from the University of Oxford, and Prof. Grace Irimu and Dr. John Wachira based in Kenya.

A story of life

LIFE is a scenario-based mobile gaming platform that will teach healthcare workers to identify and manage medical emergencies, using game-like training techniques to reinforce the key steps that need to be performed for a healthcare worker to save the life of a newborn baby in distress.

“The LIFE project is both innovative and transformative. It shows the way we should think about and take advantage of the changing technological landscape in Africa”

Dr Wilson Were

World Health Organisation’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over two thirds of new-born deaths in Africa could be avoided by delivering essential interventions including emergency care effectively. With face-to-face training we have reached only a tiny proportion of the 2.5 million African healthcare workers. We need a system that enables everyone to access and learn the essential steps to save babies in an emergency. This is what we will achieve with our LIFE platform. We will make it available so that healthcare workers with a basic smartphone can download the game and learn or revise essential knowledge regularly. 

By using the LIFE game, African healthcare workers in even the remotest settings will be trained so that their first instinct is to act correctly. The game will teach them the latest WHO guidelines, and can also be linked to professional accreditation, with built-in reminders to stay up-to-date and refresh what has been learned.

Please help us to raise £100,000 to build and test 3D and virtual reality versions of the game. This game will help to save lives, and we would love for you to take a part in this. 

the details

Your kind donations will achieve the following:

£20,000: Will allow us to build a working prototype of the smartphone game. 

£40,000: The prototype game will be user tested in the UK and Kenya to collect feedback and drive iterative improvements. 

£50,000: Will allow us to build a prototype version of the game adapted for the Vive Virtual Reality Headset.

£60,000: The virtual reality game will be user tested in the UK and Kenya to collect feedback and drive iterative improvements. 

£80,000: Launch of the final smartphone game in Kenya and evaluation of educational outcomes.

£100,000: Launch of the final virtual reality version of the game in Kenya and evaluation of educational outcomes. 

Over £100,000: We can develop new emergency training scenarios for the smartphone and virtual reality games needed by healthcare workers. 

as a thank you

We are exceptionally grateful for any donation that you are able to make, we hope that our rewards reflect this. Two highlights include:

- Dinner at my Oxford college, Green Templeton. Green Templeton have been great promoters of human welfare and have been generous enough to host this dinner as a thanks. Donors will have dinner with me in Green Templeton's magnificent 18th Century Radcliffe Observatory. 

- An immersion into virtual reality with the HTC Vive. This will be based in their Slough Headquarters especially for you. 

find us here

We will be giving regular updates on the progress of the LIFE campaign on twitter (@OxLIFEproject). Please follow us to find out how things are going. 

bring us to life!

It is not all about the money. You can help us reach our target by sharing our campaign with anyone you think would support us. We are happy to provide posts for you to share. Please drop us a line so that we can send you the latest updates for your social media channel. 

Thank you for your support, 

Our Partners