Innovation Promotion Prize for low-cost infusion system
Philippa Ngaju Makobore of the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, located in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, and her German cooperation partner, Tobias Behr, of the PAMB Fraunhofer Project Group, have been awarded the Afro-German Innovation Promotion Prize 2020 by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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The research project of the two scientists is called “Improving the safety of infusion therapies in developing countries – Electronically Controlled Gravity Infusion Set (ECGF-IS)” and it aims to prevent complications due to incorrect infusion dosages. The infusion system has received funding totalling EUR 150,000. The infusion system has received funding totalling EUR 150,000.
Gravity infusion systems are standard in Ugandan hospitals. Drugs, minerals and nutrients dissolved in liquid are administered to patients via an elevated infusion bag. The flow rate can be manually adjusted on the tube by a clamp, which often leads to underdosing or overdosing. The new, low-cost, electronically controlled infusion system still uses the bag and gravity to transport the infusion solution, but closes the gap between the uncontrolled gravity infusion and the high-precision but very expensive infusion pump used in industrialized countries.
Together with the Fraunhofer Project Group for Automation in Medicine and Biotechnology PAMB of the Fraunhofer IPA, the Uganda Industrial Research Institute is aiming to make technical optimizations to an initial prototype that has already been clinically tested in addition to laying the groundwork to found a company with the aim of commercialising the device in markets across East Africa. In this way, the promotion prize will contribute to the establishment of new innovation structures as well as supporting job creation and economic development in Africa.
Contact
Dr.-Ing. Jens Langejürgen
Head of the Biomedical Sensors and Microsystems group
Phone: +49 621 17207187
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