SCHISTOCOPE

The challenge

In addressing global health issues, our challenge focuses on health under the Sustainable Development Goal – 3 (Good Health and Well-Being). The challenge emphasizes on schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease with a diagnostics challenge in rural Africa. Over 250 million people are infected with schistosomiasis. Early treatment is key to preventing deaths and reducing long-term morbidity. The current microscopic examination of the urine sample using filtration is cumbersome, low in sensitivity, error-prone, and not field-adaptable in rural Africa due to a lack of operational diagnostic devices and well-trained community health workers. As a consequence, no or very limited diagnostics is available.

The solution

Our solution to this problem is the Schistoscope which is a low-cost portable digital diagnostic device for Schistosomiasis with integrated simplified sample preparation which can be produced and maintained in Sub-Sahara Africa and operates in line with the WHO standards. Community health care workers with basic training can deploy the diagnostic device in remote settings without laboratory infrastructure. Our approach will reduce the dependency on expert trained staff in combination with the increased availability of operational digital diagnostic devices. This will increase the accessibility of reliable diagnostics. Ultimately reducing the number of people infected with schistosomiasis.