Devices that can save lives
Affordable, appropriate tools can improve health
Adapting existing health devices and developing new ones can improve the lives of people in low-resource settings, who often have the greatest need for health tools. Effective, appropriate devices can make drug delivery easier and safer and sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy less likely.
Making lives healthier
New or improved devices can help overcome many challenges in global health. They include:
- Safe injection devices. The reuse of syringes and needles without proper sterilization puts people at risk for infection with bloodborne pathogens such as hepatitis B virus and HIV. Injection devices that cannot be reused make injections safer and simpler to administer. The Uniject® prefilled, autodisable injection device is one such tool. The Uniject device was originally used to deliver vaccines and is now being used with other drugs that require injection, such as oxytocin to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death.
- Contraceptives. Male condoms are one of the most common methods for guarding against pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Female condoms have the potential to expand women’s options for protection. Currently available female condoms are significantly more expensive than male condoms and have been slower to gain wide distribution and use. Now, new female condoms and other contraceptive devices that are more acceptable to women and more likely to be used are moving toward approval.
Funding is crucial
These and other devices have the potential to directly improve lives. But their development depends upon adequate funding for research and development of affordable products. Also needed is a thorough understanding of how products are likely to be accepted in the marketplace, health systems, and people’s lives. The global health community must ensure that, once developed, the devices will be affordable and available to those who need them most.
