The NIFTY™ cup, or Neonatal Intuitive Feeding Technology, designed through a collaboration between PATH, the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital, features in a list of top 21 global innovations for 2016.

The NIFTY cup is a soft silicone cup containing a tiny reservoir designed to fit an infant's mouth, that collects milk from the larger container. It could help prevent starvation in premature and high-risk babies who have trouble breast-feeding in low- and middle-income countries, by allowing infants to feed at their own pace. The Seattle-designed cup was announced at the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen earlier this year; it's been tested in a pilot study in India, where 20 babies were successfully fed, and has received a Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenge award to launch the next phase of research and development. 

Christy McKinney, PhD, MPH spearheaded the development of the NIFTY cup. She is an Acting Assistant Professor in Dental Public Health Sciences, and received her PhD in Epidemiology and certificate in global health from UW.

Read the full list of 21 innovations.