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…an inherited blood disorder where the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin. The disorder results in large numbers of red blood cells being destroyed, which leads to anemia. Treatment for thalassemia often involves regular blood transfusions and folate supplements. However, regular transfusions can lead to transfusional hemosiderosis – an accumulation of excess iron within the body, including liver,…in thalassemia patients involves chelation therapy. Even in a well-treated population receiving regular blood transfusions and iron chelation therapy, up to 43% of patients were found to have significant cardiac iron overload. Literature supports that cardiac iron load-related complications may contribute up to 70% of morbidity and mortality in thalassemia patients. Therefore, new approaches to reducing this iron deposition are needed. Solution The objective of the project was to…

Issue In the Philippines, 200,000 teenagers become mothers each year. The majority of these girls belong to low-income communities with poor access to mental health resources and emotional support. These issues are exacerbated by the social stigma surrounding teen pregnancies.Postpartum depression (PPD) occurs in 10-18% of women following the birth of their child. Social stigma and low health service access have culminated in a precarious situation for pregnant girls in the Philippines, as many communities do not have regularly available mental health professionals and counsellors. SolutionThe ‘ParentUp’ app aimed to provide informational and emotional support…and volunteer parents.The refined application allowed mothers to send health questions via SMS messages to local health experts. The program required a fee of 1 peso to sign up.The project had 2 phases:Research phase: Used surveys to analyze the awareness of PPD in Caloocan.Pilot phase: Gained further insights by interviewing low-income mothers in Taguig to…

…of HIV-positive adults will develop cancer and 1.6 million Kenyans currently live with HIV. Cancer ranks third as a cause of death in Kenya and contributes 7% to the total national mortality yearly, with an annual mortality rate of over 22,000. There is a low awareness of cancer and even less knowledge of the link with…of the National Cancer Act in 2012 in Kenya made cancer a notifiable disease, meaning that national and regional governments must collect and report all cancer cases, for control, management and resource allocation. Solution This project tested the viability of setting up a population-based cancer and HIV-linked registry to document cancer patterns in two counties in Kenya. A unique mobile telephony cancer–HIV-linked registry was developed to address the knowledge,…patients in the pilot counties, to obtain information regarding gaps in cancer knowledge, attitude and practices. To facilitate access to the data, a simple, web-based application was designed that is hosted on a secure server, running on a platform that imported the summarized registry data. Outcome The project resulted in the successful development of a…

Issue Maternal health has become a priority worldwide. Many rural communities do not get access to information on maternal health because messages are not in their local language. Solution Quechua is the language spoken in the rural Andes region of Peru and does not have a written component. To reach this population, the project used voice messages in the Quechua language to give mothers reminders for medical appointments, general pregnancy health tips and nutritional tips on how to reduce pregnancy complications. The project team started by carrying out an exploratory study, followed by…cloud-based voice system that sends voice messages to multiple users automatically. The messages contained information on the need for antenatal visits, plus the importance of ferrous sulfate supplement, tetanus vaccination and how to recognize pregnancy-related danger signs. A randomized study was then conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention with 208 Quechua women. Outcome Results showed that the use of voice messages in Quechua…

BasicNeeds’ unique approach works with existing health and community systems, and staff to provide community based mental health treatment through outreach clinics, mental health camps and regular check-ups. However, treatment alone is not enough for sustained improvements to mental health, which is why the Model also increases an individual’s access to emotional and practical support through self-help groups, improves their capacity to…

…immediately at birth and about 6 million require basic neonatal resuscitation. One hundred percent of patients from remote hospitals needing artificial respiration in low-income settings are transferred to hospitals with higher levels of available assistance. Patients often receive unsafe respiratory therapy during their transfer, due to a lack of proper equipment to control the air pressure that is supplied. Solution The main aim of the project was to develop a prototype for a hand-held, mechanical, neonatal resuscitator called a “Volume Adjustable Manual Resuscitator”. The prototype was developed for manual operation by professionals with little training. It was also designed to allow a physician to simultaneously conduct respiratory therapy as well as auscultation and cardiac resuscitation of the patient. The Volume Adjustable Manual Resuscitator generates a series…