At the ‘Appropriate Healthcare for Developing Countries’ conference, a first of its kind conference by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers today, leading engineers, health practitioners, donors and charities will evaluate some of the most innovative medical technologies specifically designed for developing countries.

Dr Patrick Finlay, Medical Division Chairman at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, explained:

“For years many hospitals around the world have been forced to rely on inappropriate hand-me-downs from richer countries, but what use is an ambulance to a village with no paved roads, or a dialysis machine to a clinic with no mains electricity?

Health clinics in the world’s poorest countries have no choice but to turn to these Western medical technologies simply because there are so few devices that have been designed specifically for them.

Simple, inexpensive technologies engineered for use in the developing world have the potential to save thousands of lives. It’s now up to the engineering and development communities to get these technologies out of the workshop and into the world’s poorest countries.”

According to estimates from The World Health Organization (WHO) as many as three quarters of all medical devices in the developing world are not functioning because the overwhelming majority of devices have been built specifically for Western markets.

The developing world is unable to use these devices for various reasons, such as difficulties and high-costs in obtaining replacement parts, unreliable and inconstant availability of electricity supply, insufficient trained operators or the devices’ unsuitability to rough terrain to name but a few.

Orthopedic surgeon Professor Chris Lavy, who spent years working in Africa, will be speaking at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers conference. He commented:

“One of the newest hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa was built with infrared sensors to turn the taps on in the operating theaters. Wonderful idea but is it really appropriate in a country where there are no other infra-red controlled taps and no engineer to fix them? Within a year most of them had failed, some in the off position and some in the on position.”

Ten inventors for the developing world will be presenting their revolutionary technologies at the ‘Appropriate Healthcare for Developing Countries’ conference.

The technologies include:

  • Nipple shields for breastfeeding HIV-positive mothers to avoid transmitting the virus to their babies. Breastfeeding infects ca. 200,000 babies annually with HIV.
  • The ‘eRanger’ ambulance – a motorbike sidecar stretcher than can navigate much better than a four-wheeled ambulance through rough terrain and is available at a fraction of the cost
  • A stethoscope that connects to a mobile phone, enabling doctors to monitor hard-to-reach patients remotely (Over half of Africa’s 1 billion people now own mobile phones.)
  • A solar-powered hearing aid that uses bone conduction to send vibrations to the working cochlea, eradicating the use of expensive batteries and treating the most prevalent type of hearing loss in the developing world.
  • A ‘donkey ambulance’ for remote villages in Afghanistan, a specially designed seat that can be attached to a donkey providing immediate, affordable emergency transport by using the existing method of transport locals use for traveling through mountainous regions could help save countless lives.
  • The ‘SKUTA’ – a two-wheeled scooter with a specially designed seat for amputees offering much more mobility and comfort than standard crutches, as most amputees in developing countries cannot get prosthetic limbs.

Written by Petra Rattue