WHY MOBILE HEALTH?More than two-thirds (70%) of all people living with HIV live in Sub-Suharan Africa — at the heart of which Naluja, Zambia is found. These 24.7 million people include 91% of the world’s HIV-positive children*.
To provide diagnosis of HIV for children, as well as adults, many clinics use a Dried Blood Spot (DBS) test. Early diagnosis in infants is especially critical so that treatment plans can be implemented as soon as possible. Many times the effectiveness of the treatment can be directly related to the implementation turn around time. In an effort to expedite the processing of these DBS tests, improve turn around time, and thus enhance treatment, Zambia has recently implemented a new electronic delivery system to replace delivering the tests via the long and often error-ridden physical journey. The new program, created by the Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD) and the Zambia Center for Applied Health Research and Development (ZCAHRD), aims to expedite the return of results for early infant HIV diagnosis by using SMS text messages. However, this system relies upon cell phones, and many of these rural clinics are outside of reliable cell phone coverage. As an organization, EWB-BU aims to engineer antenna systems that will not only detect cellular signal, but that will also boost reliable reception. With this improved access to cell signal, more than 10 clinics in the Kalomo region that have adopted the DBS-SMS program and that had struggled to find signal will be able to ameliorate and expedite the diagnosis of HIV in infants. As of 2017, this project has been implemented and is now being monitored. |
Dried Blood Spot test.
According to amfAR, an estimated 1.5 million people in the Sub-Saharan region became newly infected with HIV in 2013. In the same year, an estimated 1.1 million adults and children of Sub-Saharan Africa died of AIDS, accounting for 73% of the world’s AIDS deaths*. |
Naluja Gets Cell Signal
A SCENARIO TO WORK TOWARDS
Originally, test results were physically carried 135-km from the medical labs in Lusaka back to the clinics in Kalomo. The timeline for this process was 6-weeks—and that was when results were not lost or mistakenly delivered.
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By engineering systems to deliver cell signal to the clinics, the time delay for test results can be decreased by at least two weeks. This will promote early diagnosis of HIV in infants and allow for advanced implementation of treatment plans.
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The improved cell signal would not only ameliorate local access to medicine, but it would also lead to increased access to news, business, economy, and even education, according to the BBC World Trust*.
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As other communities learn of these developments, they can collaborate with ZCAHRD and EWB-BU to bring change to their village. And the cycle will start again.
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OUr Antenna DesignOur amplification system uses sustainable power supplied by a 40W solar panel and 12 V battery, which are both regulated by a solar charge controller. Meanwhile a double Yagi-Uda antenna system receives ambient signal and amplifies it through the active repeater. If the ambient signal is above the noise floor, the system amplifies it up to 85 dB, providing some cellular service to the Naluja health clinic—where the nearest cell phone tower is 60-75 km away.
By working on our implementation with local electricians, we were also able to spread a breadth of knowledge and to ensure that the system would be monitored and maintained as we continue to receive updates from Naluja. |
The Boston University Student Chapter of EWB is an officially recognized chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA
and an officially recognized student group under the Boston University Student Activities Office.
© 2019 EWB-BU | Disclaimer
and an officially recognized student group under the Boston University Student Activities Office.
© 2019 EWB-BU | Disclaimer
