A Ugandan software engineer has designed an app and tool which has the ability to detect malaria, educate on prevention and even scare mosquitos away!
A Ugandan inventor, Brian Gitta, has won the Africa Prize for Engineering after creating a bloodless malaria test. 24-year-old Gitta is the youngest winner to date.
The Africa Prize encourages ambitious and talented sub-Saharan African engineers from all disciplines to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges. Commercial support is awarded to a shortlist of innovative applicants through an eight-month period of training and mentoring.
After the mentorship period, finalists are invited to present at an event held in Africa. The winner is selected to receive £25,000 along with three runners-up, who are each awarded £10,000. This prize is a massive boost for a product that can possibly save so many lives.
Brian developed ‘matibabu’ meaning ‘treatment’ in Swahili. The device involves shining a red beam on a patient’s finger which identifies malaria symptoms in blood cells and then sends the results straight to the patient’s mobile phone. It takes a total of 60 seconds for the test results to come through.
In an interview with CapeTalk’s Africa Melane, co-founder of Matibabu, Moris Atwine said operating the device does not require a medical specialist, anyone can do it. The prototype is at 80% to completion. They will be doing chemical trials in July. The app also has other useful tools, like tips and the ability to disperse mosquitos.
“Application provides information that enables the user to know how to prevent malaria infection. The application also produces mosquito repellant sounds that chase away mosquitos within close proximity with the user.”
You can find more information here. We look forward to seeing how this app grows, it could save millions of lives!
by 