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Rethinking the Design of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices.

ABSTRACT: Reducing the global diseases burden requires effective diagnosis and treatment. In the developing world, accurate diagnosis can be the most expensive and time-consuming aspect of health care. Healthcare cost can, however, be reduced by use of affordable rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). In the developed world, low-cost RDTs are being developed in many research laboratories; however, they are not being equally adopted in the developing countries. This disconnect points to a gap in the design philosophy, where parameterization of design variables ignores the most critical component of the system, the point-of-use stakeholders (e.g., doctors, nurses and patients). Herein, we demonstrated that a general focus on reducing cost (i.e., "low-cost"), rather than efficiency and reliability is misguided by the assumption that poverty reduces the value individuals place on their well-being. A case study of clinicians in Kenya showed that "zero-cost" is a low-weight parameter for point-of-use stakeholders, while reliability and standardization are crucial. We therefore argue that a user-driven, value-addition systems-engineering approach is needed for the design of RDTs to enhance adoption and translation into the field.

SUBMITTER: Kimani FW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6190021 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rethinking the Design of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices.

Kimani Faith W FW Mwangi Samuel M SM Kwasa Benjamin J BJ Kusow Abdi M AM Ngugi Benjamin K BK Chen Jiahao J Liu Xinyu X Cademartiri Rebecca R Thuo Martin M MM

Micromachines 20171027 11

Reducing the global diseases burden requires effective diagnosis and treatment. In the developing world, accurate diagnosis can be the most expensive and time-consuming aspect of health care. Healthcare cost can, however, be reduced by use of affordable rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). In the developed world, low-cost RDTs are being developed in many research laboratories; however, they are not being equally adopted in the developing countries. This disconnect points to a gap in the design philoso ...[more]

PMID: 30400509

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Rethinking the Design of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices.

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Rethinking the Design of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices.

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