Neotree
Eradicating Newborn Mortality
Why should where a baby is born determine the quality of care they receive?
Every day, more than 6,500 babies die in their first month of life.
Two‑thirds of these deaths could be prevented by improving the quality of care and ensuring healthcare professionals know how and when to deliver simple, proven interventions.
In many low‑resource facilities, care quality is inconsistent.
There is often a shortage of newborn‑trained healthcare workers and limited means of collecting data.
A practical, evidence-based solution
Neotree addresses these challenges through a specially designed system that uses cutting‑edge digital technology, underpinned by extensive medical research.
Working in partnership with teams across the UK, Zimbabwe and Malawi, Neotree is built on over seven years of research and continuous monitoring of its impact on newborn survival rates.
Embedded into daily clinical care in neonatal wards, the Neotree app enables healthcare professionals to:
Prompt clinical actions, notifying checks and tests and linking with laboratories for swift results.
Guide diagnostic decisions and clinical management, identifying risks and recommending interventions.
Provide education and training at the bedside and in classrooms.
Collect and use data, enabling evidence‑based decisions and improved care.
"Neotree has the life‑saving power of a drug.
Neotree helps us use limited resources as effectively as possible."
Dr Chimhuya
Neotree Co‑PI & Clinical Lead, Zimbabwe
A measurable impact:
60,000+ babies
have benefited from Neotree.
10,000+ caregivers
supported through community engagement.
4,000 doctors and nurses
have adopted Neotree.
18 healthcare facilities
use Neotree in Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Benefits include:
- Up to 50% drop in newborn deaths
- Estimated $6 cost per Healthy Life Year saved if scaled nationally
- Reduced prescription of antibiotics
- Lower rates of hypothermia
- Increased overall standard of care
Community engagement
Mothers and caregivers are central to Neotree’s approach.
Community engagement groups at Neotree sites allow caregivers to share experiences, support one another, and engage directly with healthcare professionals.
This helps to amplify the voices and priorities of families in day‑to‑day care.
"Meaningful impact comes from understanding where care breaks down, building in partnership, and being willing to engage with the complexity of implementation, systems, and policy.
Impact is also inherently interdisciplinary, sitting at the intersection of clinical care, data, social science, design, and community engagement."
Professor Michelle Heys
Neotree Co-founder, Trustee and Principal Investigator
Looking ahead
Neotree’s future plans are all about both scale and depth:
- Supporting Ministries of Health to lead
- Embedding Neotree within national health systems
- Expanding across hospitals, primary care and perinatal care through Mummytree
- Strengthening the learning health system linking care, data, training, and quality improvement.
The team is also carefully exploring AI‑enabled clinical decision support, using high‐quality routine data to support earlier identification of high‐risk newborns.
This will be used to support, not replace, clinical judgement.
Neotree has the potential to save more than half a million babies each year.
Its vision remains clear: to be used at the bedside in all low‑resource settings, ensuring every newborn is counted and cared for.
Photography credits: Lauren Kesler (Malawi) and Charlotte Ashton (Zimbabwe).
Neotree is part of a 200‑year‑long story of UCL research driving progress through collaboration and evidence‑led action.
As we mark UCL's bicentenary, we’ll be highlighting research from across the Faculty of Population Health Sciences that demonstrates how our community contributes to discoveries that improve lives, both locally and globally.
Be part of the work shaping healthier futures globally
In our Global Health and Development MSc, you'll learn to tackle health equity and inequalities globally through research-driven, multidisciplinary teaching, with a focus on low‑resource settings and marginalised populations.
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