MATIBABU

We close the gap

 According to WHO in 2015, there were roughly 212 million malaria cases and an estimated 429 000 malaria deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2015, the region was home to 90% of malaria cases and 92% of malaria deaths. In general, the lack of low cost diagnostics for malaria results in late diagnosis of the disease in many low income communities (contributing to high morbidity and mortality from severe forms of malaria), and over-treatment of malaria where syndromic management is used due to lack of point-of-care diagnostics (contributing to wastage of money on treatment of non-malarial illness especially since the new recommended Artemisinin-based therapies are expensive). 

Matibabu addresses malaria disease management through cost-effective early diagnosis of malaria, reducing the amount of medication, duration of treatment and infection rate. Matibabu offers prompt, accurate diagnosis reducing power challenges & the need for trained personnel. It also offers a data collection model that logs the location and results of diagnosis that helps in making an informed decision about malaria for a given location. Matibabu innovation is based on the research and innovation of creating a non-invasive technology for diagnosis of diseases specifically malaria using light scattering and magnetism. The Matibabu system’s working principle is based on the measurement of the orthogonal light polarization components generated in a magnetically active sample, as is the case of blood infected by malaria.

 The matibabu diagnostic kit for the disease serves highly in reducing cases of late diagnosis and self-treatment cases based on just symptoms. The technology has a potential value of reduced socio-economic costs of the disease for 300-500 million people. This is in direct correspondence with the sustainable goal of promoting good health and well being of the people.

The Matibabu is a portable hardware device that uses magnets and a beam of red-light to detect malaria parasites in tissues. The technology has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis of malaria because it is simple to use, non-invasive and low cost. In addition the fact that it does not require blood drawing devices means it can be used in primary care settings in very hard to reach areas, replacing the microscope which is not accessible in many such contexts

The Matibabu system’s working principle is based on the measurement of the orthogonal light polarization components generated in a magnetically active sample as is the case of blood infected by malaria. To guarantee the separation, the orthogonal light from a laser diode is forced to a linear polarization mode and then sent through the sample. If the sample is magnetically active, (malaria infected blood), a new polarization direction perpendicular to the incident one develops in the sample if a strong magnetic field is applied.The concentration of infected red blood cells is proportional to intensity of the newly generated light plane

• Reduced diagnosis costs of infant fevers.

• Pilot countries are expected to save money for malaria treatment costs.

• Reduced drug wastage(malaria drugs being used on other patients having similar symptoms and viceversa) 

• Epidemiology data to shape policy in childhood fever management.

• Enhanced productivity of medical personnel

• A lot of money which is spent treating severe cases of malaria caused by mismanagement and late diagnosis will be saved.

Engineering - We have an electrical engineer on team responsible for developing the electronics of the device

Parasitology - We are supported by two parasitologists that advise the team with the medical side to be able to align the device to perform accurate and timely diagnosis.

Computer Science - We have at least four computer scientists on team that are responsible for the software development

Research - We have one individual on the team leading the research

Business Development - We have one individual doing the business models and financials of the company

Our business model is business to business. We target health centers which include hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies. These are the main centers for diagnosis of malaria. We think that it will succeed because our initial market research states that individuals most likely to carry out malaria diagnosis when feeling sick will visit hospitals, clinics or pharmacies. From the research we also found out that people are used to having their blood drawn by nurses who later confirm that these persons are sick or not thus we intend to enter the market through a series of phases to encourage our users to adopt to the new way of diagnosing malaria

Solve has a network of experts that the matibabu team can leverage from in regards to a scientific and technical review and insights towards the technology with a main objective of making it robust. Solve also offers a financial intensive which is vital to creating a faster run way to our research and development 

The biggest challenge during the scaling of matibabu will be obtaining approval for the device to be used in the respective countries. This process is time-consuming and tedious since each country possesses its own requirements. Solve community can help us define the road map around this problem. This includes developing a strategic road map addressing this.