Health Diagnostics

Cervical cancer is a serious public health problem and the leading cause of cancer deaths in Peruvian women. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been identified as the cause of cervical cancer. More specifically, HPV types 16 and 18 are responsible for about 70% of these cancers. There is an effective vaccine against those two types, but vaccination is not universally used and vaccinated women will still need screening for lesions caused by other HPV types. The Peruvian government has committed to start vaccination in young women; screening is performed using cytology (the study of cells).

Rural areas in LMIC are often geographically, culturally and economically marginalized, and may lack mobile and internet coverage, turning communication between communities and health providers weak. Thus, key mechanisms to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes like skilled birth attendance (SBA) are not achieved. In some rural places of Peru, SBA is less than 70%. Therefore, we propose a community-based Information System which will link pregnant women (PW), community agents (CAs), traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and Health Centers (HCs).

A lack of early diagnosis of pathogens is a major component inflating the rates of death in tropical countries, with malaria being recognized as the most devastating parasitic infection. eBioPhy (Electronic Biophysics) is a diagnostic platform that uses biochemical and biophysical principles, in combination with data and communication tools, to probe the presence of pathogens in biological samples. The platform aims to bring real-time diagnostics to remote locations where health services are rare.

There are a few reasons why the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) can fail. One of them is the lack of adherence to the DOTS strategy (directly observed treatment, short-course, recommended by the World Health Organization). The absence of fast recovery and adverse effects are commonly associated to treatment drop-out. As a result, Multi-Drug Resistant TB is emerging. Pyrazinamide (PZA), the only drug effective against latent TB, produces serious hepatic side effects.

Pneumonia remains the world’s leading cause of death among children under five. Pneumonia is usually diagnosed based on x-ray images and lab or clinical examination, but trained personnel and resources are scarce in rural communities in Peru. Innovators have developed a highly sensitive and specific algorithm of pattern recognition that will be printed on a circuit board. This hardware box will be linked to an inexpensive and portable ultrasound echograph, and to a smartphone with dedicated software. Digital images will be transmitted from the echograph to the box and smartphone.

In the inter-Andean valleys of Peru, there is a neglected illness called Carrion's disease, affecting populations that live in conditions of extreme poverty and with deficient sanitation. Carrion's disease is transmitted to humans through mosquito bites and poses one of the greatest health problems in affected regions of Peru. The illness has two clinical forms: (1) an acute (hematic) phase, known as 'Oroya fever', reporting a mortality of up to 88% in untreated individuals, and (2) a later, eruptive phase, in which the patient develops nodular dermal eruptions known as 'Verruga Peruana'.

HIV continues to be a major global public health issue. In 2012, more than 10 million people in low-income countries living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy. In resource-low countries, despite the access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), opportunistic infections are the most common ways to detect HIV. However, many of the neurological infections are difficult to diagnose because they require specific laboratory tests.

In Peru, 2 out of 10 children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition, negatively impacting their growth and development in later life. Timely diagnosis through nutritional status screening and monitoring are paramount; however, they are not routinely done and are subject to measurement errors. A novel body measurement data capture system, based on the use of mobile technologies and image processing, will allow on-site capture of body images of children for automated nutritional status assessment.

Development, Laboratory Testing and Field Validation of a Rapid Diagnostic Test for Ebola Virus Disease