Virtual reality game teaches emergency birth care

The award-winning LIFE game from an Oxford University team uses VR to teach healthcare professionals emergency medical care for newborns in distress.

Life-saving Instruction For Emergencies (LIFE) is the 3D and virtual reality (VR) game developed by a team of researchers at Oxford University. Designed to help Africa’s 2.5 million healthcare workers, the game runs on a basic smartphone and can be used with or without VR headsets. Using the latest World Health Organisation guidelines, LIFE puts healthcare providers in high-stress, virtual situations.

More than 450,000 babies die in Africa each year, and the development team hopes to help lower that figure through the LIFE training. The game provides built-in reminders for regular refresher courses and is linked to professional accreditations. Currently being tested in the UK and Kenya, additional developments include more emergency training scenarios added to the game and wider use of the VR version.

Health tech developments are making remote care easier and smarter, like this necklace that stores an infant’s vaccination records and an over-the-phone respiratory check. How could long-term chronic health conditions be cared for via mobile technology?