Solving the Sample Transport Problem with a Sharing Economy

Lee Schroeder of the University of Michigan in the U.S. will develop a smartphone application that can be used by health centers in Ghana to request independent drivers to transport patient samples quickly and at low cost to laboratories for diagnostic testing. Current courier services in resource-poor settings, when available, can be unreliable or expensive. A 'sharing economy' approach to delivery, by hiring independent drivers online, could improve services and reduce costs. They will develop a simple application for different devices, and recruit and train health workers and drivers to use the application, and package and transport the samples. They will then pilot test their approach for timely delivery of excess samples to two district level hospitals.