Deliverables from international cooperation on an NIH-funded biomedical engineering project in Africa

Through the Frameworks grant provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center, an interdisciplinary team comprising faculty members from the medical, business and engineering schools at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) in collaboration with faculty members from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, University of Lagos, Nigeria and University of Cape Town, South Africa have been able to record quantifiable progress in achieving the specific goals of a 5-year grant received in September 2013 for developing innovative biomedical engineering (BME) programs in Africa. Several key deliverables comprise the designing of biomedical products. For example, to improve pediatric surgical outcomes, and based upon the needs analysis performed by a local pediatric surgeon in Nigeria, an Infant Warming Device for regulating temperature during pediatric surgeries has been designed, prototyped, and tested under laboratory conditions - it is currently being prepared for clinical testing. The warmer came about as a result of identifying problems and challenges being experienced in Nigerian Hospitals by Nigerian doctors and has been developed by an international team of faculty and students from all four universities. In addition to the infant warmer, engineering, medical, and business faculty in Nigeria have worked with colleagues from the US and S. Africa to develop technologies and products for monitoring wound exudate from burn victims, crushing and storing medical needles and sharps, and housing laboratory animals for metabolic studies. These case studies, specifically the international collaborative design process used to move these solutions forward, are described in the paper. Moreover, investigators comprising African engineers, scientists, and medical doctors are working to develop a book on Biomedical Engineering for Africa. This book will address what it means to practice the BME discipline within an African context. In addition, an African-based research journal - Global Health Innovation - has been launched by the University of Cape Town through support from the Frameworks grant. The journal has the mission of advancing and disseminating knowledge on all aspects of social and technological innovation for improved health and healthcare, with an emphasis on research addressing developing settings such as those found in Africa. These deliverables, along with the process for creating them, are also described and discussed herein.