TEAM Causes
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Technology
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Education
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Advocacy
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Medicine
Technology:
Working in collaboration with Malawian entrepreneurs, this project aims to break the cycle of diarrheal disease in low- and middle- income countries by focusing on the design of a pit latrine pumping system (desludging) to remove waste efficiently. With such a system in place, the latrine may be continuously used, promoting sanitation and helping to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
Our team is collaborating with SMART Centre for Water and Sanitation in Malawi to develop a simple, market-based, affordable, repairable, technologies (Smart Tech) for well drilling and pumping that are manufactured using local resources.
Automated Disease Screening (Computer Vision)
We are building a tool that uses computer vision software to screen and image a set of images for a disease to help maximize the human resources in hospital labs in low- and middle- income countries. Current applications are for TB and Schistosomiasis, but many other infectious diseases could be targeted as well.
Malawians Against Physical Disabilities (MAP) – Improving Access to Latrines
In a country of 17+ million people, Kachere Rehabilitation Centre (KRC) is the only in-patient rehabilitation facility in Malawi. Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering is partnering with MAP to improve access to pit latrines for persons with mobility impairments.
Education:
Teaching and Learning Using Locally Available Resources (TALULAR)
This is a teaching modality rooted in work in low- and middle- income countries that can be used anywhere in the world. Utilizing materials readily available to students, teachers guide students in the development of projects centered on learning core concepts and information.
Mzuzu University, one of the main universities in Malawi. A few years ago, the campus’s library burned down. Elements of TEAM Malawi are working in partnership with their colleagues at Mzuzu to design, build and resupply a new library with books and other research and educational materials.
Medicine:
Passive Infant Warmer
Working with Domasi Rural Hospital, project aims to design a thermal protection system for pediatric patients that functions independently of the electric grid, and is able to be locally manufactured and maintained. After summer 2016, community led “baby-basket” solution was designed. Follow up project includes collaboration with Kamuzu Central Hospital to design infant thermal system for ambulance transport.
Temperature Monitoring for Malnourished Children
Engineers with TEAM Malawi are working to develop Bluetooth temperature sensors to monitor the axillary temperature of children on the malnourishment wards in low- and middle- income countries hospitals and clinics. Data is sent to an app on a phone or tablet for monitoring and collection.
Intravenous Fluid Delivery for Pediatric Patients
TEAM Malawi members worked in collaboration with clinical personnel in Uganda and Malawi to create this guided device design. In-country physicians emphasized the need to regulate volume of IV fluid delivered to a pediatric patient without use of electricity. The proposed device regulates IV fluid delivery within ±20 mL, providing a method of reducing fatalities caused by over-hydration in low resource environments. Feasibility of building the device from local resources was demonstrated by a field research team in Malawi.
Advocacy:
Broadening Participation in Engineering
Under the leadership of Dr. Theresa Mkandawire, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malawi- the Polytechnic, current efforts are focused on broadening participation in engineering, specifically for women. TEAM Malawi is working to assist with these efforts.