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LONDON (AP) — A bit of creativity never hurts, especially when it
comes to solving health problems in developing
countries.
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Instead of the usual donated medicines and health equipment, some
experts are inventing new products for the poor, like a
solar-powered hearing aid or a motorcycle ambulance. Both
inventions were showcased at an engineering conference in
London.
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And in a new report published online Monday in the journal Lancet,
the United Nations highlights innovations like using text messages
in South Africa to remind women with HIV to get their babies tested
and tucking medicines into Coca-Cola crates to reach remote
villages.
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Hundreds of thousands of replacement joints, surgical tools and
other medical devices have been sent to poor countries over the
years. But according to the World Health Organization, about 75
percent of the donated goods sit unused, either because they’re
broken or no one knows how to use them.
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“In the past, there’s been a lot of good will and bad judgment in
the West,” said Chris Lavy, an orthopedic surgeon at the University
of Oxford who previously worked in Africa.
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Lavy said many African hospitals get dozens of different types of
hip or knee replacements that are often unusable. “It’s like you
need a spare tire for your Volkswagen but they send you a Mercedes
radiator instead,” he said.
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He said inventions like the solar-powered hearing aid could make a
big difference in Africa. Experts estimate two-thirds of the 250
million people worldwide who have a hearing disability live in poor
countries.
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The solar-powered device was designed by Andrew Carr, a mechanical
engineer in Cambridge, who noticed most hearing aids donated to
Africa don’t help because they treat a different type of hearing
loss more prevalent in the West. The hearing aid Carr developed
must be held close to the ear to work, but doesn’t have to be worn
inside.
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Carr’s device has an internal solar-powered battery and can be
looped into a necklace or attached to a hat so it’s next to the
person’s ear. “It blends in with local tribal cultures better than
the light pink hearing aids for Caucasians that get donated,” Carr
said. Carr is in talks with some charities about testing the
hearing aid in Africa and hopes to secure more funding to mass
produce the device.
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The U.N. report calls for more unorthodox health solutions, and
details how health officials are now using Coca-Cola’s supply chain
to deliver anti-diarrhea treatments in Zambia. The medicine is sent
in a special pod that sits in the unused space inside Coca-Cola
crates.
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“To piggyback onto (Coca-Cola’s) distribution system is a great
opportunity for medicines,” said Tore Godal, a health adviser to
the prime minister of Norway, who led the U.N. report. He said
officials are also interested in using the soft drink crates to
deliver ivermectin, a pill given to many Africans once a year to
prevent river blindness.
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Other experts agreed new innovations can help and even create a
sustainable market for health products, as long as researchers do
their homework first.
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That was the idea behind the eRanger, a motorcycle ambulance with a
sidecar stretcher capable of driving through the African bush
terrain. “The donated ambulances (from the West) won’t do 100 yards
in Africa,” said Mike Norman, a British engineer who designed the
motorcycle ambulance.
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So far, Guinea, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa have bought the
ambulances, which sell for about $6,200. Last year, George Clooney,
Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and others donated $250,000 to UNICEF in
Southern Sudan specifically to buy the vehicles.
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Norman says health officials have focused on using them to get
pregnant women to health clinics to deliver their babies. Since the
motorcycle ambulances were introduced in one district of Malawi
several years ago, death rates among mothers have dropped 60
percent.
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“What really matters is if it’s acceptable to people and if they
will pay for it and use it,” said Ted Bianco of the Wellcome Trust,
who was not linked to any of the inventions or the U.N. report.
“Because you could have a really fantastic invention, but if it’s
sitting on a shelf somewhere, it won’t do any good.”
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Online:
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