DevC, MD: Medical Solutions for Developing Countries

For infants born in especially poor areas incubation can sometimes be a problem.  However this problem was recently solved by a team of students at Stanford University.  See the attached image for a description of how the incubator functions.  Also the group has set up a non-profit organization, Embrace Global, whos goal is to try and promote awareness of their solution.  Additional information along with a video description can be found here.

Here are a couple of interesting facts about world health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO):

• The poorest paid 85 percent out-of-pocket for their health care costs in 2006.

• More than 60 percent of medication in low-income countries are only available through the private sector, where the cost is more than six times the international market price.

• Two doctors tended to every 10,000 residents in Africa, while 32 did that same job in Europe.

• There are 112 million underweight children worldwide; nine million died before age five.

• More than half a million women die every year in pregnancy or in childbirth complications, 99 percent of them in developing countries. This rate barely changed from 1990 to 2005, the most recent year for which there is data.

• The maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan and Niger in 2005 was 1,800/100,000 live births; births attended by skilled health personnel in those countries were 14 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

• More than three billion people were at risk of malaria in 2006; 27 countries reported halving malaria infection and/or deaths from 1990 to 2006.

• Thirty-three million people were living with HIV. Less than one-third requiring HIV treatment in Africa are receiving medicines.

• More than one billion were affected by neglected tropical diseases.

• Thirty-six countries reported more than 25 percent of their youths smoked.

• Fifty-four countries reported less than half their populations used safe sanitation facilities.

• People living in Southeast Asia spent US$31 each on health while those in the Americas spent on average more than $2600 each in 2006.

• Forty percent of children’s deaths in Africa occurred within the first 28 days in 2004, most in the first week.

Welcome everyone to devcmd.com!  This website is devoted to medical technology which is being designed and developed for the developing world.  I will be posts thoughts and links as it pertains to the medical technology in general, but with a major emphasis on medical technology for developing countries.

The healthcare landscape is changing and the developing countries have the potential to be at the forefront due to the lack of unnessecary regulation and ability to be versatile.  Therefore this blog will focus on potentially disruptive technologies, such as open source platforms, mobile applications, and telemedicine.