Philips to Launch Respiration Monitor to Help Treat Pneumonia

Royal Philips will launch its Children's Automated Respiration Monitor to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia in low-resource countries.

A child's breathing rate is important aspect in diagnosing pneumonia. The monitor converts chest movements detected by accelerometers into an accurate breathing count using specially developed algorithms.

According to Philips, the monitor has the potential to prevent many of the 935,000 childhood deaths caused by pneumonia each year.

The monitor is pending CE-marking, and the company expects it will become commercially available during the second quarter of 2016. — Michael Cipriano