African science steps up to COVID challenge
By Joseph Opoku Gakpo
May 15, 2020
As the coronavirus spreads
across Africa, launching a pandemic that the World Health Organization (WHO)
warns could “smolder” for years, the continent’s institutions and scientists
are stepping up their efforts to keep the disease under control.
Low-cost ventilators,
COVID-19 test kits, 3D-printed personal protective equipment and artificial
intelligence platforms are just some of the innovative tools that African
scientists have developed as they call for a coordinated strategy to address a
health care crisis that could cause 190,000 deaths on the continent.
Promising projects
across Africa
In Senegal, biomedical research organization Pasteur
Institute has collaborated with a British firm to develop $1 COVID-19 home
diagnostic test kits that can give results in 10 minutes. Validation trials are
currently ongoing for the test kits and the developers say they could be
available as early as June across Africa and beyond. When scaled up, these
low-cost tests could help address concerns that the figures on the rate of
coronavirus spread in Africa do not paint a true picture because of limited
testing capabilities.
In Ghana, the nation’s foremost science-focused
university, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has
developed Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) for COVID-19 that can produce results in
15-20 minutes, instead of the 48 hours the country’s current testing method
takes. A statement on the university’s website says the test detects antibodies
produced by the body to fight off the coronavirus infection about seven days
after infection even in patients who are asymptomatic. The developers say they are
awaiting approval from Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority so they can be
mass-produced for use.
In Uganda, auto firm Kiira Motors Corporation and
the Makerere School of Public Health have developed a low-cost ventilator that
can be used to support critically ill COVID-19 patients who need help to
breathe. They are producing the first batch of 40 ventilators for use. A New
York Times report last month claimed there are fewer than 2,000 ventilators
across 41 African countries. By comparison, there were some 160,000 ventilators
in the US before the pandemic and the country is expected to receive another
200,000 before the end of this year.
Inventions like that in
Uganda could help scale up availability of ventilators for more people on the
continent in case they become critically ill from COVID-19. Scientists at the
University of Makerere have also developed an inexpensive COVID-19 test kit
that can deliver results quickly, offering hope for a “homegrown solution” to
sub-Saharan Africa’s testing needs.
In Nigeria, health startup Wellvis Health has
developed the COVID-19 Triage Tool, an online platform that allows users to
self-assess their chances of having the coronavirus. Those at high risk are
then put in touch with a medical professional for further direction.
In Tunisia, the National Institute of Applied
Sciences and Technology (INSAT) has developed an artificial intelligence
platform that analyses lung X-ray images uploaded over the internet and detects
whether an individual has COVID-19 or not. The innovation – which has funding
support from the German government’s international development organization
GIZ, the Italian Society of Medical Radiology and tech giant IBM – is awaiting
approval from Tunisia’s Ministry of Health before it can be used in healthcare
facilities.
In Kenya, 3D printing firm Ultra Red Technologies
and other 3D printers have begun designing and printing relatively low-cost 3D
personal protective equipment, plastic face shields and prototypes for
ventilators using open source prototypes developed in Sweden.
Similarly, the South
African artificial
intelligence firm Robots Can Think and WomeninAI South Africa, both of which
are led by tech entrepreneur Natalie Raphil, are using 3D printers to design
and produce about 100 masks daily for use in hospitals in the capital
Johannesburg. Also in South Africa, Praekelt.org has created a COVID-19 health
alert WhatsApp-based platform to help counter misinformation about the disease
by providing automated responses to frequently asked questions about the virus.
Some 3.5 million people used the platform within its first ten days and the WHO
is now partnering with the firm to create similar platforms across the world in
different languages.
“Mass production
requires a big investment”
In Ethiopia, the 18-year-old natural science student
Ezedine Kamil has developed 30 separate COVID-19 related inventions. Thirteen
of those have now been patented but a lack of funding is hampering scaling
efforts. Kamil’s products include low-cost ventilators, warning devices that
prompt people against touching their faces and a contactless electrical soap
dispenser. In his community Welkite, a rural town 160 kilometers from the
Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a local university has produced 50 of his
dispensers and distributed them to various public places including hospitals.
“Mass production requires a
big investment. It is beyond my capacity to start it alone. It requires a major
capital injection. And the biggest problem in this country is that inventors
who want to work on their own initiative never get financial support from the
government,” Kamil told Germany’s DW.
The WHO regional office for
Africa has also been working to encourage innovations to help fight the virus.
The office last month organized a virtual ‘hackathon’ which brought together
100 leading innovators from across sub-Saharan Africa to come up with creative
solutions to combat COVID-19. The group that won the competition developed a
screening tool concept with the capability to map COVID-19 test cases and do
classify the results according to their level of risk. The team led by Ghanaian
biomedical engineer Laud Basing won a cash prize of $10,000 to scale up their
idea.
“As COVID-19 spreads rapidly
across Africa, raising concerns about the strain on already fragile health
systems, it has become clear that solutions in the response require action
beyond the health sector. Innovation can play a critical role in that regard.
It should be part of our DNA going forward,” Dr Moredreck Chibi, the WHO regional
innovation advisor who facilitated the event, explained in a statement from WHO
Africa.
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