Canadian Funding Supports Creation of Mobile Blood Lab in India

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

A tiny cellphone accessory invented by a young man from India will soon be used to tackle that country’s growing diabetes and obesity problems, thanks to $1 million in funding from the Canadian government.

Financial backing from the Grand Challenges Canada innovation program will accelerate development of 31-year-old Sidhant Jena’s novel “mobile blood lab.”

If everything goes according to plans, Jena hopes up to 20,000 people in India will have the device, known as the Aina, in hand sometime next year.

Within three years, it’s hoped one million diabetic patients will be using it. The plan also calls for health-care workers in India to use it to test another two million patients as part of a government screening program.

The device will make testing for diabetes and other chronic conditions easy and affordable.

Source: Toronto Star (link opens in a new window)

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