Tabla: Pneumonia Detection Device (UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco)

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

In 2015, pneumonia was the leading cause of death in patients under the age of 5, claiming almost one million children worldwide. It has been reported by UNICEF that there is a need for access to a more affordable diagnostic method to reduce the number of deaths in populations with limited access to medical infrastructure. Tabla seeks to meet this need by providing an inexpensive method of diagnosing pneumonia. The device sends sound waves into the body using a surface exciter, records acoustic backscatter with a digital stethoscope, and analyzes the received signal in order to assess the presence of pneumonia. Tabla provides an order of magnitude improvement on portability, accessibility and cost over the current gold standard of chest x-ray, targeting patients in areas with limited access to advanced medical care. The device has IRB approval at UCSF and is currently being tested with adult and pediatric patients.

More Winners

ParkExperienceMap (UC Berkeley)

To survive, California’s National Parks must become relevant to people of diverse cultural backgrounds. But even as California’s population continues to diversify, people of culturally

Read More »

Amplify Impact (UC Berkeley)

Amplify Impact raises global awareness about social innovation in the Middle East by providing an online platform for nonprofits and socially minded for-profits to produce

Read More »

The Pika Pen (UC Berkeley)

Handwriting can be especially difficult for Children with disabilities such as autism, hypotonic cerebral palsy (HCP), and sensory integration disorder (SID). Through interviews with four

Read More »

© 2021 Blum Center for Developing Economies

Design by Joseph Kim