Skip to main content

Coronavirus: Ten African innovations to help tackle Covid-19

 


Doctor robot on the hospital wardIMAGE COPYRIGHTECOLE SUPÉRIEURE POLYTECHNIQUE DAKAR
image captionThe Doctor Car robot
As Africa passes more than a million confirmed Covid-19 cases, innovators on the continent have responded to the challenges of the pandemic with a wide range of creative inventions. Here are 10 we've picked out.
1. 'Doctor Car' robot
Students from the Dakar Polytechnic School in Senegal have built a multifunctional robot designed to lower the risk of Covid-19 contamination from patients to caregivers.
The device is equipped with cameras and is remotely controlled via an app. The designers say it can move around the rooms of quarantined patients to take their temperatures and deliver drugs and food.
2. Automatic hand-washing machine
Stephen WamukotaIMAGE COPYRIGHTJAMES WAMUKOTA
image captionStephen received a presidential award for his invention
Nine-year-old Kenyan schoolboy Stephen Wamukota invented a wooden hand-washing machine to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
The machine allows users to tip a bucket of water to wash their hands by using a foot pedal. This helps users avoid touching surfaces to reduce the risk of infection.
Stephen was given a presidential award in June.
3. The Respire-19 portable ventilator
Amid a shortage of ventilators on Covid-19 wards in Nigeria, 20-year-old engineering student Usman Dalhatu attempted to help meet the shortfall.
Usman Dalhatu carri ventilator wey im buildIMAGE COPYRIGHTINSTAGRAM / USMAN DALHATU
image captionUsman Dalhatu says he's awaiting approval for his ventilator
Dalhatu built the portable automatic ventilator to help people with respiratory problems - often a symptom of a severe coronavirus infection. He now plans to build up to 20 ventilators.
4. 3D mask printing
Natalie Raphil is the founder of Artificial Intelligence company Robots Can Think South Africa.
She's using 3D printers to produce 100 masks a day for use in some of Johannesburg's major hospitals. South Africa accounts for around half of all reported coronavirus cases in Africa.
5. Solar-powered hand-washing sink
Amid a lockdown in Ghana aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, shoemaker Richard Kwarteng and his brother Jude Osei decided to design a solar-powered hand-washing basin.
When hands come into contact with a sensor on the device, soapy water is automatically released. An alarm goes off after 25 seconds of hand-washing - within the timescale recommended by the World Health Organization.
1px transparent line
6. Web-based X-ray lung scans
Engineers in Tunisia have created an online platform that scans lung X-rays to try to determine if a person could be suffering from coronavirus.
lung x ray on screen with covid circled in redIMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
When an X-ray is uploaded onto the platform, it runs a test to detect signs of a possible coronavirus infection. Researchers at the National Institute of Applied Science and Technology in Tunis say the tool is 90% effective in indicating the probability of infection.
The platform is still in development, but thousands of lung X-rays have been fed into the system to enable it to recognise the impact of Covid-19 on lungs.
7. Police robots on lockdown patrol
Authorities in Tunisia deployed police robots on the streets of the capital Tunis in April to enforce lockdown measures.
A police robot questions someone in Tunis, Tunisia - 1 April 2020IMAGE COPYRIGHTEPA
The surveillance robots, called PGuards, spied on people walking on the street and approached them to ask why they were out.
Offenders then had to show their ID and other documents to the cameras attached to the robots. The four-wheeled devices are equipped with thermal-imaging cameras and light detection and ranging technology.
2px presentational grey line

More about coronavirus in Africa:

2px presentational grey line
8. Wooden money sanitiser
Kenyan mobile money agent Danson Wanjohi has built a wooden device that sanitises cash notes that are passed through a slot in the machine.
Wanjohi constructed the mechanism using a motor, a rubber band and gears which enable notes to pass through the machine.
As the notes pass through the device, they are cleaned with a sanitising solution.
9. Rapid 65-minute Covid-19 testing kit
South African tech entrepreneurs Daniel Ndima and Dineo Lioma have created a Covid-19 testing kit which provides results in just 65 minutes.
Typically, it can take up to three days for Covid-19 tests to produce results.
The testing kit is known as qPCR, and features a technology used to measure DNA. The testing kit needs to undergo regulatory approval before it can be rolled out.
10. Socially distanced haircuts
Man getting a haircut with hairdresser behind a wooden shield
In Ethiopia, barbers have come up with a way to continue cutting hair for clients while minimising the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
The barbers stand in a specially constructed booth which acts as a partition separating them from clients, minimising person-to-person contact.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coronavirus: Can California's economy survive the latest surge?

  Image copyright EPA Image caption California's coronavirus outbreak is hurting the tourism industry Earlier this year, California was praised for an early lockdown, which helped stem the pandemic in the US state. But cases have since surged. What's next for the Golden State, known for Hollywood, sunshine and celebrity? Scott DeAngelis spent a decade building up a lucrative tour guide operation on Hollywood Boulevard. For years tourists flocked to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and there was always enough work to go around. But now there are more palm trees than people and the stars once hard to find under the feet of potential customers, now bake, exposed to the midday sun. Hope was briefly on the horizon when California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a phased reopening plan. He said it would be a dimmer switch, gradually shining a brighter light at the end of this dark tunnel. But cases began to rise again after the Memorial Day weekend in late May - and the dimmer switch has n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Coronavirus: Are women and children less affected?

  Image copyright SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Women seem to be less likely to die from coronavirus than men, and children appear to be less likely to die than other age groups. Most people will get a mild infection, but the pattern is clear in the most severe cases. So what is going on? All the information we have is coming from a massive study by the Chinese Centres of Disease Control. It looked at 44,000 people and showed 2.8% of infected men died, compared with 1.7% of women. And 0.2% of children and teenagers died compared with nearly 15% of people over the age of 80. Are women and children less likely to catch coronavirus? There are two ways of explaining the findings. Either these groups are less likely to be infected in the first place, or their bodies are more able to cope with the virus. "Normally with new viruses circulating, everybody gets infected: that's the important point," says Dr Bharat Pankhania, from the University of Exeter. This is because there is no imm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Coronavirus: How will deaf schoolchildren cope with face coverings? And other questions

  Children are returning to school throughout the UK, many of them for the first time since lockdown in March. Here are some of your questions about the challenges ahead. Questions and answers Back to school Your questions Skip Back to school Is it a good idea to send kids back to school if they have a heart problem? from Zoe Corran in Bangor BBC News People who have a serious heart condition are more vulnerable to coronavirus. Many children with heart conditions will, until recently, have been shielding to protect themselves. Experts are now looking into whether as many children will need to shield in the future,  given the reduced level of risk posed to children. Across the UK, children who have been shielding are expected to return to school. However, if a child has an extremely serious condition, your doctor can advice otherwise and parents should engage with the child’s school about the best way to continue their studies. If there is an increase in cases in an area and ...
Post a Comment
Read more