Young Scientists Recognized For Development Of Mobile App, Hardware To Detect Malaria

Inter Press Service profiles “[Brian] Gitta, Joshua Businge, Simon Lubambo and Josiah Kavuma, known as team Code 8, [who] were announced the winners of the inaugural Women’s Empowerment Award at Microsoft’s global student software competition, Imagine Cup, … [and] recognized for their development of an application that they call Matibabu, Swahili for medical center.” The app is downloaded onto a smartphone and with a small piece of attachable hardware that utilizes light-emitting technology rather than a blood sample, users can quickly detect malaria in a patient’s blood, IPS notes, adding, “Matibabu then sends the results to the Microsoft file hosting service, Skydrive, and these can be shared with the patient’s doctor almost immediately.” According to the news service, “The students hope their device will be on the market within two years and say the application will be free to download. The hardware may cost between $20 and $35” (Fallon, 8/13).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.