Affordable and Accurate Malnutrition Diagnostic Device

Pavan Dadlani of Phillips Research in The Netherlands will create a handheld three-dimensional scanner that can automatically analyze body shape and assess malnutrition in young children, which is a strong risk factor for mortality associated with a variety of common diseases. Current physical measurements of children to assess nutritional status are time-consuming, uncomfortable for the child, and difficult to take accurately, particularly in low-resource settings. They will develop and test an algorithm for measuring height, upper arm length, and circumference of the head, belly and upper arm from a three dimensional image, by collecting data from children between 0 and 5 years old. They will also produce a user-friendly design for health workers by conducting a field analysis in low-resource settings.