The Sensor Project
At the intersection of
innovation and global health
The Sensor Project needs your help to raise funds to support the trials of a ground-breaking new technology that could save countless lives, starting with pregnant women and their unborn babies.
An issue of health inequity and social injustice….
"On my first day in Uganda, as a PhD student studying Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, I visited Mulago Hospital. It was old and originally intended to handle a few thousand deliveries a year, not the 30,000 it had then.
I was shocked to see so many women giving birth in so many different parts of the hospital – on the floor, under tables, in corridors.
An entire ward was devoted to women suffering from the complications of pre-eclampsia. Most had no access to health care during their pregnancies. Without simple, inexpensive and effective ways of diagnosing women at risk of the disease, pre-eclampsia was heartbreakingly prevalent and devastating to women's health.
And among them, one woman in particular. I never learned her name but will never forget her.
She had experienced a seizure and was unconscious, a result of untreated pre-eclampsia. She was alone, abandoned by her family who did not understand that she was suffering from a medical condition – they thought she was possessed.
Had she been diagnosed earlier, she probably could have been helped. The doctors had what they needed to treat pre-eclampsia right there at the hospital but she didn't have early enough access to the healthcare that would have let her know she was at risk.
The next morning, we found out that she – and her unborn baby – had died. The medical attention she received was just too late."
- Beth Payne, PhD Candidate and a member of the Sensor Project team
If this patient had access to diagnostic technology in the community, she might still be alive today. You can make a difference to community healthcare worldwide by supporting the Sensor Project, which gives community health workers the ability to identify women at risk of complications from pre-eclampsia using a simple, inexpensive sensor and smart phone app.
Background
A UBC research team has made a technological break-through – developing a non-invasive test that helps to diagnose a variety of medical conditions. The technology, called the Phone Oximeter™ leverages the global ubiquity of mobile phones to provide measurements of blood oxygen levels with a light sensor attached to a patient's finger and using software downloaded to the mobile phone. This innovative medical sensor that uniquely connects through the audio-port of any mobile device, allows community health care workers to make diagnoses that could previously only be made in hospitals.
One of the conditions that assessing blood oxygen levels can help to diagnose is pre-eclampsia, which is a life threatening disorder for pregnant women and their unborn babies. Pre-eclampsia is commonly defined as the presence of new high blood pressure with protein in the urine in pregnancy. If left untreated, it progresses to eclampsia, or seizures during pregnancy. Pre-eclampsia is the second leading cause of maternal death and kills 76,000 women annually and results in a further 500,000 infant deaths, almost all in the developing world. This hypertensive disorder of pregnancy can be managed with simple treatments if a diagnosis can be established.
UBC researchers have determined that monitoring the blood oxygen levels of pregnant women can be a very effective way of identifying mothers at risk of developing pre-eclampsia. Using mobile phones – which are widely available in developing countries – to assess women's risks allows many more women to receive the medical help they need, saving the lives of countless women and unborn babies globally.
The Opportunity
The Sensor Project is a non-profit fundraising effort supported by the University of British Columbia and driven by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Research (ECEM) research group. The goal of the project is to fund new and innovative global health delivery models that optimize the use of physiological sensors attached to mobile phones.
We have a unique opportunity to work with community health workers to implement this technology as part of a rigorous trial and make an immediate difference in the lives of families in the developing world.
We Need Your Support
This project has received unprecedented national and international attention and acclaim, with awards and support from Grand Challenges Canada, PATH, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Now we are asking for you to join us in providing the essential push needed to translate the research and knowledge gathered into real life change.
For every $100 you donate, a health worker will be trained and equipped with a medical sensor to allow this predictive mobile application to measure blood oxygen levels. Each community health worker will then become part of the rigorous process of field testing.
This is exciting, vital work and we need your help. The team members who have been asked to fundraise each have a personal commitment to the project and its long-term viability. Many have made financial sacrifices to see it come about. We are asking you to help us make a difference in further testing this promising technology to prevent one of the most prevalent causes of maternal deaths.
Please make a donation to help as many women and their babies as you are able.
To make a donation through one of UBC’s International Foundations (United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong) and/or to make a gift of securities or a wire transfer, please contact: Laura Ralph, Associate Director of Development, UBC Faculty of Medicine, P: 604-827-4728, E:laura.ralph@ubc.ca