Meeting CTGen

We recently met Dr NGO Nam in Aviesan premises, the owner of CTGen
a company based in California which provides easy-to-use DNA synthesis supports. Dr NGO also developed a sister company in Vietnam CTGEN-PSA which aims at facilitating the use of PCR in LMICs. Dr NGO will make all efforts to attend the AEC Biomedical Innovation Forum 2013, the international conference and exhibition on Health Technology for Development co-organised by Aviesan and the National Innovation Agency of Thailand scheduled 14 - 16 November 2013 in Bangkok 
http://www.nia.or.th/biomed2013/

August, 2013

 

Meeting DNDi

HTech4Dev was recently approached by the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDi) a non-profit product-development partnership. DNDi aims at improving the quality of life and the health of people suffering from neglected diseases by working in partnership with private industry, public institutions, academia and NGOs. DNDi is seeking new treatments and new diagnostics for the Onchocerciasis disease (also known as river blindness), a human filarial infection caused by a nodule-dwelling filarial nematode. The question DNDi addressed to HTech4Dev relates to the availability of a cheap and robust technology able to facilitate disease diagnostic, and to assess the effect of novel drug candidates. Through HTech4Dev, contact has been initiated between DNDI, several technology providers and several field experts in France and in Cameroon, the country where the only relevant animal model is maintained. A meeting will be soon organized in Aviesan’s premises to coordinate this work and to identify adequate financing.

Mental E-Health in Senegal

JUST TO MENTION THAT THIS PROPOSAL WAS NOT ACCEPTED BY THE CHARITY BUT PROF. NIANG FOUND OTHER WAYS TO FUND PART OF IT!
With the assistance of a consortium organized through HTech4Dev, Prof. Mbayang Ndiaye NIANG recently submitted a Letter of Intent to Grand Challenge Canada about her project on mental e-health in Senegal.

This project is aimed at overcoming the large regional disparities in access to mental healthcare in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) through the deployment of relevant Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. These technologies will firstly provide support to primary care health workers by strengthening their links with specialized physicians working in reference centers and will secondly build permanent links between health workers and patients through teleconsultation. A pilot phase will take place in Louga and St Louis, and a second phase will involve the target population of patients (settled and wandering) with severe mental disorders and their relatives in six regions of Senegal: Saint Louis, Louga, Matam, Tambacounda, Kaffrine, and Diourbel. Reduction of the impact of discrimination and stigmatization will be also addressed through specific e-training programs directed towards health professionals and lay persons. This comprehensive approach, if successful, may be easily adapted to similar settings, thanks to the growing access of the vast majority of LMICs to ICT tools.

With support of various stakeholders, we believe this project may durably change mental healthcare in Senegal:

• University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar
• Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
• Senegalese Ministry of ICTs
• MEDES (Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology)
• Astrium Satellites
• Sanofi, Access to medicines
• St. Boniface Hospital, Winnipeg, Canada
• CNRS, Aix-Marseille University
• UMVF: the Francophone Virtual Medical University

We really hope to receive good news in May to prepare this ambitious and exciting project along the WHO Global Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020!