Making Medical Devices Accessible: A Drug-Resistant Malaria Detection System

People living in areas of the world that are affected by disease, famine, or poverty could have their lives drastically improved by currently available electronic technologies, but the cost, complexity and/or limited operating environments of devices which employ these technologies can make it impossible or impractical for many of those in-need populations to actually acquire and make use of them. The barriers to acquisition and use are understandable. Most medical device companies are located in the wealthier countries, as are their clientele, and, to these companies, taking technological advances and either creating new products, or make their pre-existing products more powerful is the logical business and scientific progression. As such, devices seen in production that would be useful are often hospital grade with high-accuracy and varying amounts of adjustability so as to allow them to be used in performing a variety of functions. But it is exactly this accuracy and flexibility that makes them too expensive and complex to easily be acquired and used in environments that have limited financial and skill resources. In this paper, as an example of how to make presently inaccessible technology accessible, a method of detecting drug-resistant malaria strains in laboratories is analyzed, barriers to use of such a system in a poorer, malaria affected region are looked at, and a device is designed and a prototype built that is simple and affordable. Such a system not only allows collection of epidemiological information, but also empowers doctors and researchers to investigate new drugs without expensive laboratories