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A 16-year-old Upper East Sider is making an international impact—one neonatal machine at a time.
Eden Jarrett, a junior in high school, recently launched a nonprofit called Tiny Fighters Africa, raising $11,000 to send critical medical equipment to hospitals in Nigeria, where premature infants face some of the highest mortality rates in the world.
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Jarrett’s motivation is deeply personal. She was born at just 29 weeks, weighing under two pounds, and spent nearly three months in the NICU at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell. This summer, she returned to that very unit—not as a patient, but as a student observer, shadowing doctors who once helped save her life. Some of those same physicians are still working there today.“I was getting to watch the fellows do a simulation of intubating,” Jarrett told ABC News, which first broke the story.
This experience only reinforced Jarrett’s desire to give back—and do so in a way that transcends borders.
Her nonprofit’s first shipment to Lagos Island Maternity Hospital included an incubator, oxygen concentrator, resuscitator, therapy machine, and syringe pump—all essential tools for caring for premature infants. The equipment was warmly welcomed by local physicians, including Dr. Femi Omololu, who described the overwhelming need.
“We have a high number of premature babies here. I mean, basically sometimes we put 2 babies in an incubator just to make sure we are trying to save lives,” Omololu said.
According to global health data, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of premature infant death, largely due to lack of access to proper medical care.
Jarrett, who knows firsthand how fragile life can be in those early weeks, believes geography should not determine survival.
Now, she’s focused on fundraising for a second shipment—and she’s thinking long term, too. Jarrett hopes to become a doctor, helping future generations of preemies just like her.
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