Lumenda

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

In developing countries, the cost to diagnose meningitis remains high and therefore many neonates are denied quality healthcare. Approximately 126,000 cases of neonatal bacterial meningitis occur every year in low income countries of which 25–50% develop brain damage and about 40-58% of patients die. The gold standard for diagnosing neonatal bacterial meningitis is a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture. Lumenda provides an accurate and rapid method of diagnosing bacterial meningitis in neonates in low-resource settings. It facilitates rapid intervention and avoids wasteful prophylactic administration of antibiotics by analyzing the optical properties of the CSF to rapidly detect bacterial meningitis at each point along this pathophysiology. The rationale behind the device stems from the clinical observation that CSF turns from clear to opaque when infected with bacterial meningitis.

More Winners

Bare Abundance (UC Berkeley)

Studies demonstrate a strong correlation between overall scarcity of nutritious food in low-income communities and high obesity rates and other health-related problems. BareAbundance strives to

Read More »

Gyaan (UC Berkeley)

Gyaan is an ecosystem for collaborative, inquiry-based, leveled reading that merges task-based and storytelling approaches to increase reading comprehension in early-stage readers. To build reading

Read More »

Lamprey (UC Berkeley)

Laparoscopy is a form of surgery done through a series of small incisions that is becoming the standard for many procedures. Graspers are important tools

Read More »

© 2021 Blum Center for Developing Economies

Design by Joseph Kim