5 ways Canadian funding is improving health care in Francophone nations

PARIS – Smartphones that double up as microscopes and injury registries, using selfies to diagnose disease, and fortifying local food resources to feed babies and pregnant moms.

Those are just a handful of ideas Canada is funding to transform health care in developing Francophone nations.

This week, Grand Challenges Canada poured $1.2 million in seed money to 11 ideas scientists are working on in health care innovation. Five of the projects hail from Canada, while researchers from Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Egypt, Haiti and Rwanda also received funding for their ideas.

READ MORE: 6 Canadian game-changing ideas for global health care

Grand Challenges Canada is funded by the federal government and its grant program helps pay for research on treating diseases in the developing world.

The ideas are far-reaching, with the proposals receiving $100,000 each to flesh out their projects. Ultimately, their findings could lead to worldwide applications.

Global News took a look at five of the proposals:

Turning smartphones into medical microscopes

When you head to the hospital, you’ll typically see a microscope readily available. That’s not necessarily the case in other parts of the world where even basic equipment is lacking.

Toronto doctors at the University Health Network are hoping to change that by turning phones into portable microscopes. They’re inexpensive, easy to move around and, because they’re battery operated, don’t need to run on electricity on the spot. They’re also cheaper than buying microscopes for each health care site.

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The doctors say the smartphones will also store images, making it easy for doctors in the developing world to connect with global doctors to share the photos if they need to. Diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, intestinal parasites and cancer can be easily captured with the smart phone microscope, the scientists say.

Their project is rolling out in Cote D’Ivoire.

Creating injury registries in Southeast Africa

North America has had trauma registries for more than three decades. Scientists at Montreal’s McGill University are hoping to bring this medical documenting to Mozambique and other parts of Africa.

Injury and disease is commonplace in this region, but the Canadian researchers are hoping that recording patient information, extent of injury and outcomes will help health care officials pick up on patterns and trends.

In turn, doctors will gain insight on the scope of the problem and create targeted interventions that would stop similar incidents from happening.

The registry is used via phone app – it’s simple, fast, and easy to complete. The Montreal researchers hope its use will spread into Rwanda, Haiti, Malawi, Tanzania and other countries, connecting Western doctors to their colleagues in Africa.

Relying on shea caterpillars to boost nutrition and economy

Burkina Faso is a tiny West African country where half of the population lives below the poverty line and one million kids suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Researchers say that shea caterpillars – which are protein-packed – could hold the key to better maternal and child health. The insects are collected from shea tree plantations but only from July to September. It’s a small window of time before barriers such as sanitation issues, small supply and high prices kick in.

READ MORE: 5 Canadian innovations that could change the face of global health care

With the seed money from Grand Challenges, researchers hope to turn the operation into an organized business model they say will reduce poverty and end malnutrition. They’d introduce healthy products that are available year-round, such as caterpillar powder that can be added to meals and dried caterpillars. The products would be made in sanitary labs and controlled by public health officials. Their hope is that the business would also employ 2,000 women within the community and protect shea trees, a natural resource to the impoverished country.

Egypt’s “Take a photo, save a life”

About 1.3 million Canadians live with heart disease, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. It’s easy for us to schedule an appointment and stop in for a routine checkup with our family doctor, but it isn’t as straightforward in other parts of the world.

Nile University researchers say that 80 per cent of cardiovascular disease in the world is in low- to middle-income countries. Early detection is hard to come by – there are no obvious symptoms, and social and economic barriers stop patients from seeking routine medical attention.

They have created technology that would screen people for cardiovascular disease by taking a snapshot of the eye to check for abnormal blood vessels. The researchers say this is a tell-tale sign of cardiovascular disease. Using non-invasive imaging, a mobile phone takes a snapshot, then outputs a risk analysis report to its user. The image is uploaded to a website so that a specialist can offer advice to the patient on next steps.

The screening is simple, can be used at home and is of no cost to the patient.

Fortifying children’s cereal in Haiti

In Haiti, almost 70 per cent of babies aren’t receiving the minimum standards for nutrition set by the World Health Organization. Infants are fed a porridge made with bread, salt and margarine – it lacks the micronutrients babies need as their brains and bodies are quickly growing.

This is why doctors decided to fortify the meal so that it meets international recommendations. They’re also deploying women in the community to visit families with newborns three times a month. The women are tasked with explaining proper nutrition, hygiene and sanitation to new parents.

Meanwhile, the cereal will be available in local shops, and at an affordable price of about 15 cents per serving. The researchers are relying on the seed money to ramp up marketing and scale up their project so that the fortified porridge is used across Haiti.

carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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