Four biomedical engineering students travel to Zambia for test strip venture
Zambia test strip venture team (from left to right)
- Story as told by Janak Jetva, BME undergraduate
Janak Jethva and six other students travelled to Zambia through Penn State's Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program, led by Professor Khanjan Mehta, to conduct studies regarding Ukweli test strip venture -- a social entrepreneurship venture that attempts to provide low-cost urinary test strips to easily detect diabetes and urinary tract infections.
Jethva says, "Ukweli test strip teams have developed a novel manufacturing technique of using inkjet printers to print test strips that use biomarkers in urine to detect UTIs and diabetes. These test strips are easy to interpret by observing simple color changes and cost 1/10th the price of current screening options."
Zambia test strip venture team (from left to right)
HESE students stayed in Choma, Zambia, for 20 days to collect data for different studies related to the venture. They interviewed chemists, doctors, and nurses to understand current screening, diagnosis, and treatment pathway for UTIs; worked to characterize urban and rural Zambians' understandings of diabetes, as well as the opportunities for screening and diagnosis in small clinics and regional hospitals; interviewed women to understand their perceptions of UTIs and to find out if there is a stigma associated with UTIs in the society; and conducted surveys of hospitals, clinics, nurses, and community members to better understand the current Zambian healthcare system.
Jethva notes, "This fieldwork helped advance the venture by providing valuable information on market channels for selling the test strips, diagnosis and treatment pathways for UTIs and diabetes, perceptions of women regarding UTIs, and gaps in the Zambian healthcare system that can be filled using new ventures."
Read more about the work and findings of HESE's Ukweli test strip team and 3D-printed prosthetic hand team in Zambia at mashavu3.wordpress.com. To learn more about Ukweli test strip venture, visit www.ukweliteststrips.com.
Participants and their majors:
- Janak Jethva - biomedical and mechanical engineering
- Nicholas Frazette - biomedical engineering
- Molly Eckman - biomedical engineering
- Staci Sutermaster - biomedical engineering
- Juliana Molano - economics and international politics
- Paul Girgis - biobehavioral health
- Joshua Bram - biology