Open Source Biomedical Engineering

for Sustainability in African HealthcareCombining Academic Excellence with Innovation

C. De Maria, D. Mazzei, A. Ahluwalia

VIII International Conference on Digital Society

Healthcare quality in Africa

The scarcity of accessible quality healthcare in sub-saharian Africa:• lack of resources• lack of adequately trained biomedical engineers

[Mullaly, 2008]– A lack of clear common understanding of the BME

as a field of study– Limited or lack of human capital or resources to

teach advanced (3rd -5th year) BME courses– Poor linkages between the medical and

engineering faculties– Lack of medical device industry in Africa – Over reliance on foreign companies to repair and

design instrumentation.

ACADEMIC

STRUCTURAL

Past Experience: ASIALINK project

• Development of Core Competencies in the areas of Biomedical and Clinical Engineering in the Philippines and Indonesia 2005-2008

• Long term and sustainable improvements can only come through: I. recognition on the part of policy makers, of the

importance of on loco trained experts capable of managing and repairing biomedical equipment and

II. development of expert skills through individualized programmes that cater to the specific social, cultural and technological needs of a region.

Present scenario

• The world has completely changed with respect to 2006, when the ASIALINK project was considered a landmark in South East Asia:

– Continuous connectivity (tablets, mobile phones)

– Social networks

– Free e-learning

The Open Source World

• Open Source product, developed by a community, without a multinational brand now is not equal to un-reliable.

• Industrial and trade secrets prevent exposing specific problems with medical devices [Bliznakov et al., 2007]

• The open source has in the community an intrisic revision process

OPEN ECG PULSE OXIMETER

Crowd-sourcing and crowd-thinking

• Obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.

• The community becomes an active player, which analyses quality, reliability and feasibility.

What is a FabLab?

Engineering World Healthwww.ewh.com

This platform does not

teach locals how to create

or innovate

Thinginversewww.thingiverse.com

This platform contains a

repository of projects

related to rapide

prototyping. There is no

quality control

RepRapwww.reprap.org

Training offered for

assembling own RP

machine. Does not teach

how to manufacture the

device you need.

Cooking Hackswww.cooking-hacks.com

A summer school on do-it -

yourself being organized in

Spain. Generic, not specific

to biomedical engineering

Sharing platforms

Sharing platforms

• Although there are several resource sharing platforms available as well as several courses on RP, digital design and embedded electronics, none of these is dedicated to biomedical devices.

• This is because biomedical devices must be designed first and foremost with patient safety and efficacy in mind.

Regulation and documentation are essetial

The Crowd

• A groups of individuals trained and assisted by institutions of technical and higher education, to design, innovate and build together through sharing.

• The Crowd can and should consist of healthcare providers, engineers and technicians.

• Standards and regulations guaranteed by universities as the organ for control

The Open Source for Biomedical Engineering project

• Giving BMEs in sub-Saharan Africa, through their universities, the tools and know-how in order to design, develop and maintain their own equipment based on the new open source revolution

• Three main objectives:

– the development of human resources in higher education in BME in Africa,

– The creation of the OS4BME infrastructure

– The making of a new genre of BME in Africa equipped with the capacity to exploit and develop innovative designs

OS4BME platform

• A sharing, making and repository platform based on the customization and integration of already available web tool containing ideas, blueprints, FAQs and safety regulations for creating new, competitively priced and innovative biomedical devices.

• Managed, regulated and monitored through an academic led pan-African organization

• Fostering local economic growth

OS4BME concept

Teaching the Crowd phylosophy

• OS4BME platform requires the creation of a professional BME working group, versed in the regulatory aspects of biomedical safety and standards, which is able to assess, vet and categorize projects, designs or blueprints and then make them available through the platform open repository.

BME today

• Application of engineering concepts to unsolved problems in biology and medicine.

• A great emphasis on niche subjects like MEMs and cell engineering and less on the learning of new, hard technology and equipment management, maintenance and repair.

• Necessity of upgrading of curricula

Tools for Crowd-design

• Three main areas of teaching, necessary to give a shape, a brain and to share the ideas:

– Physical RP (3D printing)

– Electronic RP

– Content Management and Sharing platforms

Tools: Open 3D Printing

• 3D printing (or Additive Manufacturing) is a process of making a 3D solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model.

• 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes.

Tools: Open 3D Printing

• RepRap: the first general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing machines.

• Open source software:

– Design

– CAD/CAM

– Control

PRONTERFACE

Tools: Open 3D printing

Tools: Electronic Rapid Prototyping

Tools: Electronic Rapid Prototyping

• Arduino is not only an electronic board

Tools: Content Management Systems

• For sharing and documentation

• MediaWiki

OS4BME Class

• Introduce the OS4BME concept to the African Engineering community and thus create a small working group who will be involved in the set-up of the new platform.

• A short term intensive course (August 2013) in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by the Innovators Summer School held at the Kenyatta University.

• Over 48 students, technicians and lecturers from the ABEC universities

OS4BME Class

Course Organization

OS4BME Baby Monitor

• Co-Design by 4 thematic groups:– mechanics– electronics – Software – Standard and regulation

identification, and documentation.

• Design and fabrication in the space of 3 days.

• A survey demonstrated the satisfation of attendees

Open questions

• Interest conflicts with powerful economic groups

– awareness-raising activities and workshops targeting policy- makers,

– Africa-driven project

• New funding opportunities (e.g. crowdfunding)

• The OS4BME infrastructure, managed by the new genre of biomedical engineers, will be a new tool for design biomedical devices, collecting, classifying, vetting and disseminating information and know-how

• In the long term, the sharing of ideas and designs should become the norm, allowing continuous user-driven improvements in healthcare.

Conclusion

Thanks for your attention!

VIII International Conference on Digital Society