BME-IDEA

BME-IDEA Meeting - Global Health Breakout

Abstract

The Global Health Workshop is planned as an interactive session where all participants will be encouraged to share and promote their ideas. During the session, we will endeavor to develop a 'tool-kit' for those who would like
to incorporate global health technology problems into their engineering design educational programs. For about half the time, we will focus on the barriers that keep us from implementing this type of program and on ways to diminish these barriers. For the second half of the session, we will discussways to encourage our professional societies to take a more proactive role in the development of technology to alleviate the disparities in healthcare in the developing world.

World Health Technology Design Workshop Notes

The text below are notes from the workshop session regarding barrier, hints and tips to overcome the barriers as well as comments about the white paper presented by Matt Glucksberg.

Barriers:

1. Funding
1. Less funding is needed if travel is a smaller component of program
2. Look toward inner city clinics… they have needs too
2. Identification of real needs
1. Database of problems – add efficiency so every program does not have to fund student or faculty travel.
2. Bob Malkin’s list
3. Lack of Organized Interface between those BME professionals working in this area and the World Health Organization
4. Nature of BME faculty research does not always lend itself to tackling WHT problems
1. Develop a network of resources or experts who could provide mentorship and information
5. Faculty time to get involved
1. Bring strong young leaders from developing countries and teach them the process so they can innovate
6. A good design requires developing a valid need and allowing iterative development in collaboration with the customer. This is tough if the customer is in the developing world
1. Go to developing world to teach people there to come up with solutions of their own problems
2. interactions with users on the ground
3. Partner with Doctors Without Borders
7. Developing world is more than one place with a wide variety of needs
8. Direct Connection to developing world needed
1. Local doctors who have extensive experience in developing world
9. Data and Information, feedback
1. Connections with local healthcare
10. Problems are bigger than engineering, how to purchase, how  to finance, how top manufacture in developing world….\
1. Long term for products to get rolled out, the industry has to be local. It must be a sustainable activity in the environment that it will be used.
2. Lack of contacts with local manufacturers
11. Collaborate with universities in the developing world…. Students there can team up with team here or we can encourage projects within their own countries
12. Need a playbook… yellow pages…. Pragmatic items that need to be accomplished to successfully accomplish WHT work in design
13. Business disconnect between model that works in US and what may work in developing world
1. Promote reduction to practice and dissemination
14. How do we work in this area and not minimize FDA requirements and regulatory process?
15. Barrier- fellow faculty not encouraging of spending resources on solving problems in healthcare in developing world when we have issues here.
16. Promotion and tenure process
17. Perception that it is not possible to make $ in this area.

Things to consider for white Paper

1. #5- Symposia broadened out to ensure that industry is exposed to the projects
2. Vehicle or competition to promote and encourage world health projects
3. Connecting people together to be sure projects that have been successfully solved can be disseminated