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…means many women with gestational depression are not assessed, diagnosed or adequately treated at the primary care level. Solution The project tested a new system of care for gestational depression patients called KusiyRed at a primary healthcare facility in Peru. In this multidisciplinary approach, an obstetrician makes the diagnosis during the first prenatal visit, the…PHQ-2 components of the longer Patient Health Questionnaire were used by the obstetrician as concise, self-administered tools for assessing depression. A system of sending text messages (SMS) to phones of pregnant women with information to inform them of the treatment offered in health centres was implemented. This also included appointment reminders and motivational messages. Training…pre-implementation rate of 50%). All pregnant women with depressive symptoms were referred to a psychologist for treatment and 85% of pregnant women with depression received SMS. Such support did not exist prior to initiation of the project. An evaluation showed 100% of midwives considered this system to be very important to the screening of depression…

…population – were at risk of malaria. Sub-Saharan Africa carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. Some 15 countries (mainly in sub-Saharan Africa) account for 80% of malaria cases and 78% deaths globally. Drug discovery from natural products for diseases like malaria is both time- and cost-intensive. An efficient approach is to use computer-aided drug design (CADD) through which virtual screening investigates a virtual library of natural products from a database against biological targets linked with disease processes. Solution The project team sought…compounds, isolated from diverse natural products of Kenya. In addition to structures, the database also contains detailed information about the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name, common name, botanical source and place of collection of the plants from which these compounds are obtained. One of the key features of the database is…

Issue Cutaneous leishmaniasis leads to the development of ulcers and lesions on the skin. The disease affects 12 million people worldwide, with 1.5 million new cases every year. No effective treatment currently exists. Solution The project used a permanent make-up (or tattoo) device to provide targeted intra-dermal administration of anti-cutaneous leishmaniasis therapy, concentrating the drug in professional phagocytes, the exclusive replicative niche of the Leishmania parasites. The…benefits from decades of development by the cosmetic industry. The selected drug was oleylphosphocholine (OlPC), an alkylphosphocholine formulated as liposomes of about 100 nm that can be directly used for tattooing. After showing that the selected drug formulated as liposomes could efficiently reach intracellular parasites when in contact with infected macrophages, the activity of the drug was…

IssueMalnutrition results from the inadequate consumption of calories and nutrients essential for child growth and development. In Uganda, 33% of children under five years have stunted growth and 14% are underweight, while 5% have wasting associated with severe acute malnutrition. Solution Implemented in rural Eastern Uganda, an integrated model was introduced to prevent malnutrition among mothers and children newborn to two years, as a partnership between Makerere University and the local community. A daily supplementary food product named “Grand Nutrition”, made from local foods, was developed and tested, coupled with nutrition education to correct any existing malnutrition and prevent any malnutrition relapses…practices. The project also attempted to involve herbalists to prescribe a balanced diet to their patients, because there are mothers who still seek their services. A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the intervention, with Bukooma sub-county as the intervention area and Bukanga sub-county as a control arm, separated by 30 kilometers and a buffer…

Issue Lack of access to health and medical education for doctors in the developing world is a serious global health problem. Rwanda, with a population of 11 million, has only one medical school. Shortages of properly trained medical staff, a lack of involvement of the private sector and a shortage of computer and mobile technologies for continuous medical education contribute to the poor-quality healthcare system. Solution The main goal of the project was to develop VuraWiga – a native Android application to support and educate Rwandan health professionals by gathering, managing and promoting common and effective practices related to patient care. Interviews and needs assessment were conducted with healthcare providers to develop insight into their educational needs, to enable the design of an easy and accessible way to meet these needs, thereby reducing the use of ineffective techniques. Two usability studies were conducted by a Rwandese doctor that…

Issue In order to retain potency, vaccines must be kept cold during storage. As a result, vaccinations must often be administered to patients upon delivery or risk losing function. Remote areas in LMICs lack the electricity infrastructure to reliably preserve vaccines leaving children without their necessary vaccinations. Cold boxes are used by many NGOs; however, they lack the ability to preserve vaccines for an adequate amount of time. Solution An electricity-free cold storage box was developed in order to properly preserve vaccines for long periods of time in rural areas. Outcome The final prototype was able to preserve vaccines for up to 16 days, which is 2-8 times longer than other cold boxes on the market. The team recognized that this technology could be used in conflict zones,…

Issue The lack of clean drinking water and sanitation systems are severe public health concerns in sub-Saharan Africa. Households without access to clean water are forced to use less reliable and less hygienic sources and often pay more for non-potable water. Solution The key aim of this project was to produce a ceramic silver-zeolite-impregnated filter for drinking water treatment. Zeolites are known adsorbents used in water treatment. They are crystalline hydrated aluminosilicates whose framework structure consists of cavities or pores that could be occupied by cations or water molecules. Silver-loaded zeolites can act as an inorganic reservoir and release silver ions in a controlled way. Silver has been shown to be…

…and cerebral palsy. Approximately 150 million children worldwide suffer from an NDD and 90% of them live in developing countries. The mhGAP Intervention Guide recommends community-based rehabilitation for children with an NDD, but does not specify intervention strategies. Further, the vast majority of children with an NDD do not have access to evidence-based therapies, due to the limited availability and high costs of specialized therapists and the lack of evidence of the delivery of interventions by community health workers. Solution Implemented in India, the INFORM (ImproviNg Functional Outcomes foR Children with IMpairments) project designed and tested a mHealth platform for Android devices to enable community health workers (CHWs) to deliver evidence-based strategies for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD). The project was…submitted an Excel log book for suggesting strengths and challenges faced during the delivery of the intervention in the domains of technology, content and family interactions. This information was used to develop the platform. Knowledge was disseminated in conference presentations and $56,500 was received from Innovgreen Disable Foundation Limited, Hong Kong, to support the project.

…are sputum smear microscopy, which lacks sensitivity, and liquid broth culture, which is sensitive but time-consuming and requires infrastructure. Solution The primary objective of this project was to develop a novel assay that can detect tuberculosis (TB) drug susceptibility in sputum samples obtained directly from patients and assess resistance to many drugs at once. If developed, the assay kit could be used on the front line of clinical diagnostics, where healthcare workers could easily ‘snap together’ different parts of the designed kit and obtain drug susceptibility data for that specific patient within 24 hours – more rapid than any other TB culture system currently in use (not including gene-based tests like GeneXpert). Outcome The key…

Issue Water-borne diseases are still very common worldwide, and are far more serious an issue in Nigeria and other developing countries, due to contamination and pollution. Many of the commercially available water filters are expensive; there is a need to develop alternative filters that are more affordable. Solution The project was aimed at using the seeds of…so that their properties could be utilized in water filtration. A jar test was performed to determine the concentration of Moringa needed to clean 1L of water for both wet and dry seasons, which gave 200 mg/L in the wet season and 50 mg/L for dry season water. This was scaled up to 20L capacity and the result rechecked. A simple-to-use water purifier prototype was constructed with aluminium sheets. The three component assembly of the purifier involved (i) a…three-phase framework for transition to the application of moringa seeds for a public water treatment facility has been suggested, starting with consolidation and re-engineering of the point-of-use treatment facility for rural and other remote populations, and then design and construction of a new, small-scale waterworks for a semi-urban population in the south east of Nigeria.