Where does the Developed World meet the Developing world?
If someone gave you a free Ferrari, you would probably take it. Who wouldn’t? A $230,000 ride for free is not too bad of a deal. But consider this, after you drive that Ferrari just 30,000 miles you will probably have spent upwards of $60,000 just to keep it on the road. And that doesn’t even include the insurance. So now, that free ride doesn’t sound so great anymore and you’re stuck taking the bus.
The same applies to healthcare in the developing world. When poor countries receive neonatal incubator donations from huge medical companies (and that happens all the time), they don’t come with a mechanic, tools, replacement parts or a warranty. So when that expensive $200,000 incubator breaks down it ends up in the back yard – Rusting out.
An incubator in the developing world is only as good as the infrastructure there to deploy and maintain it correctly. Simply, the resources available in the developing world make most medical solutions from our world unsustainable.
Tim Prestero of Design that Matters talked to us a few weeks ago and walked us through his development process for the Car-Part Incubator and how he solved this problem. He tells us how a Toyota truck can save a babies life and keep working for years.
This project you will remember is part of CIMIT's Global Health Initiative headed up by Dr. Kris Olson, one of Scientific American's 10 for 2009.
Running Time: 10 Minutes
Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT)
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