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…died of malaria in 2015, with 90% of these deaths occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, the number of new episodes of clinical malaria in 2015 was estimated to be around 214 million. Tracking cases and attacking the parasite reservoir among “asymptomatic” individuals is critical for elimination of malaria in areas where the disease is endemic. Surveillance is particularly difficult because diagnosis currently relies on identifying malaria parasites by microscopy and detecting soluble…saliva-based, field-adaptable molecular method for nation-wide surveillance of malaria in Cameroon and Senegal. The approach involved developing a method of collecting and stabilizing plasmodium DNA from saliva, coupled with a molecular method for parasite detection using Loop mediated Isothermal DNA Amplification (LAMP) which can be conducted in resource-limited laboratories. The homemade, saliva-based LAMP test was…

If left untreated in young children, skeletal deformities like clubfoot and early-onset scoliosis can grow to become major life handicaps, preventing full participation in society due to stigma and a lack of employment opportunities.This project will address this challenge by 3D printing high-quality, lightweight, low-cost orthotic devices. These will include corrective braces for treatment of clubfoot and torso braces for treatment of scoliosis. The goal is to create orthotics which are comparable in comfort, fit, and compliance to standard braces.…

Issue Uncorrected refractive errors (e.g., myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism) are significant causes of preventable visual impairment, blindness and disability. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 158 million people are visually impaired, due to uncorrected refractive errors, including 8.7 million people who are blind. Lack of awareness and inability to access or afford services are the primary contributing factors. Solution The objective of the project was to establish community-based vision care services for older adults and to contribute to the improvement of vision and quality of life for the elderly in Quoc Oai district, Ha Noi, Vietnam. The specific project…2,534 people were provided with free/subsidized eye glasses ·      167 patients were referred to ophthalmologic hospitals for free eye surgeries ·      10,000 people in the target age groups in project areas were reached with educational messages on presbyopia and other eye health conditions. There was also regular monitoring and evaluation conducted by Helen Keller International…

Globally, about 289,000 maternal deaths occur each year, 9 percent of them due to obstructed labour. Obstructed labour also contributes to 2.6 million stillbirths and 2.7 million newborn deaths annually.Using a partograph, a graph-based paper tool that records key maternal and fetal data during labour, could help avert these outcomes, yet globally, partographs remain underutilized…partnership with local government at facilities in the county of Taita–Taveta in Kenya.The project embraces an Integrated Innovation® approach by combining science (the evidence-based, low-cost, simple tool will promote the uptake of knowledge and skills), social (mentoring by local quality improvement teams will identify and address cultural and organizational factors that impede implementation and uptake) and business innovation (insertion within local health systems and alignment with county and country priorities will promote sustainability and scaling).  If successful, the initiative could be scaled up across county and national platforms, helping to address inequity and transform the lives of women and newborns by improving the quality of essential maternal and newborn health services in Kenya.

Issue An estimated 4,700 preventable maternal deaths and 63,000 infant deaths occur annually in China, mainly due to lack of information on availability of maternal and child health services. Solution The project used mobile text messaging, in an attempt reduce maternal and infant deaths in remote rural areas in China. The project used World Health…mobile phone text messages to target pregnant women in remote rural areas in China. In a randomized controlled trial, 11,386 pregnant women were recruited to an intervention group with mobile phone text messaging, while 11,904 pregnant women served as a control group, receiving usual care at their first prenatal visits. Outcomes were collected for 3,915 subjects in the intervention group and 3,667 subjects in the control group, to evaluate the differences in pregnancy and birth outcomes. Outcome The results showed that…knowledge, and practices towards pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care. The effectiveness of maternal education through text messaging in this project was as follows: The stillbirth rate was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (1.07% versus 1.89%);The neonatal mortality rate was significantly lower in the intervention group: 17.54% versus 30% in…

…newborn deaths in South Sudan has consistently increased in recent years, culminating in a mortality rate of 40% in 2018. 20% of these newborn deaths were attributed to sepsis due to cord infections during birth.The majority of the newborns at risk come from families of low socio-economic status (SES) in rural settings. These families often live in poverty and lack the resources needed for neonatal care. Mothers are often forced to deliver their babies under the care of family members and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in a home rather than a…mortality.In total, 1,034 neonates received cord treatment using CHX gel. The neonatal mortality rate plummeted from the national average of 20%, to just 4% in the intervention group. Overall, 82% of neonates were infection-free after birth, despite the fact 78% of births during the intervention took place in a hygiene constrained environment.Newborns who received CHX…

Issue Typhoid fever remains one of the most important infectious diseases in the developing world. The most recent global estimates for the burden of typhoid suggest that Salmonella typhi and S. Paratyphi together account for 26 million cases and more than 200,000 deaths per year. Despite its limited sensitivity, blood culture is considered to be the best available test for routine diagnosis but requires laboratory capacity, including electricity and trained personnel, which are not available in many rural settings. Solution The…duration. Samples collected from rural clinics were processed with the electricity-free device. Bottles were placed into an insulated container together with sealed packets containing 1-tetradecanol, a chemical that, upon heating in a hot water bath or via sunlight, maintains temperature of 38C for prolonged periods. Bottles are inspected daily for de-colouration of a CO2 sensor, which indicates…

Issue Access to timely and accurate diagnostic tests has a significant impact in the management of diseases of global concern, such as malaria. While molecular diagnostics satisfy this need effectively in developed countries, barriers in technology, reagent storage, cost and expertise have hampered the introduction of these methods in developing countries. Solution The aim of the project was to develop a lab-on-chip polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic test for malaria. The platform consists of a disposable plastic chip and a low-cost, portable, real-time PCR machine. The chip contains a desiccated hydrogel with reagents needed for Plasmodium-specific…with unprocessed blood, avoiding the need for sample preparation. The chips were run on a custom-built instrument containing a Peltier element for thermal cycling and a laser/camera setup for amplicon detection. Outcome A working prototype of a lab-on-chip device for diagnosis of malaria was developed. This diagnostic was capable of detecting all Plasmodium species with…

Almost 60% of kids in Bangladesh are at risk of poor development due to low body weight (22%) and undernutrition (41%), poverty, and sub-optimal stimulation due to low parenting knowledge.The mother is usually the key childcare provider and her physical and mental health is a major predictor of child development, particularly in low and middle-income countries.Using the service of home-based workers of community health clinics in rural Bangladesh, the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research will offer a combined intervention that includes both a “Thinking Healthy” program for mothers of children 6 to 12 months old with depressive symptoms…

…million and 125.5 million, respectively – a 68% increase. Because the majority of Africa is affected by poor health infrastructure and low numbers of health workers, attempts to prevent and treat hypertension are nearly non-existent. Given the urgency in scaling up resources to inform how hypertension prevention and treatment should be implemented, it is important to recognize where rapid scale-up of health infrastructure has previously occurred and work with effective infrastructure to reach the target populations. The response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is the most high-profile and effective infrastructure scale-up that has occurred for any chronic disease. By utilizing the lessons learned in HIV/ AIDS, we can effectively reach out to large populations for hypertension screening, prevention, treatment, and retention. This project…