At less than the price of a cup of coffee, it might be one of the world’s most economical lifesaving devices. The “uterine balloon tamponade” does not look like much: a syringe, some blue tubing, a lubricated condom. All this is contained in a plastic bag, along with a checklist and a laminated set of instructions. But, when the condom is attached to the end of a catheter and inflated with water, it can stop uterine bleeding in women who have just given birth—one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in developing countries. “I get pictures every day from women—in India, in Kenya, in Tanzania—from women who have survived,” Thomas Burke tells me, holding up his phone, as we sit in the living room of his house in the Boston suburbs.
Image: Illustration by Na Kim
