Innovate4Health’s 32 finalist teams: For social innovations to address emerging infectious diseases!

2020-11-20

COVID-19 has exposed the fault lines in many health systems and the challenges this poses for addressing emerging infectious diseases, from drug-resistant infections to COVID-19. In our era of globalization, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are expected to become more common. This can be a chance to transform communities and health systems and make them resilient to the rising tide of emerging infections and promote health equity. Previous years of Innovate4AMR student competitions organized by ReAct have demonstrated that students can be champions for antimicrobial resistance. This is why we called on students to take up the challenge and become the future innovators in Innovate4Health, a global design sprint to address emerging infectious diseases.

After a competitive selection process that saw applications from more than 90 teams, 32 student teams have been selected to join the Innovate4Health design sprint. The cohort comprises 32 teams from 20 countries. The teams submitted projects that tackled emerging infectious diseases from several angles:

• Innovation Pillar #1: Ensuring effective prevention and treatment of emerging infectious diseases in the hospital setting
• Innovation Pillar #2: Making community health systems more resilient to emerging infections
• Innovation Pillar #3: Preventing zoonotic disease transmission in food systems

To help students recognize their potential as change agents, Innovate4Health participants will be trained through a special, non-credit course designed by the IDEA (Innovation+Design Enabling Access) Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The design sprint has been organized into three phases:

1. Ideation
2. Implementation
3. Advocacy

“Now more than ever, we need students to become agents of change in tackling complex and intersectoral challenges responsible for emerging infectious diseases from the tsunami of COVID-19 to the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance.”

Professor Anthony D. So, Director ReAct Strategic Policy Program

Through each stage, students will refine their projects through international collaboration with student teams and apply tools and frameworks to consider systematically how their intervention can address the greatest challenges of emerging infectious diseases. Experts in infectious disease policy and advocacy will contribute to the curriculum through live sessions for feedback and discussions on designing transformative innovations for an equitable and healthier approach to these challenges.

Innovation Pillar 1:
Ensuring effective prevention and treatment of emerging infectious diseases in the hospital setting

2. CarbaTeam

Team Members: Jennifer Andrea Aldana (Universidad Mariana Gálvez  de Guatemala–Guatemala), Kenya Arcadia Hernández Santizo (Universidad Mariano Gálvez  de Guatemala–Guatemala), Jackeline Andrea Santiago Escobar (Universidad Mariano Gálvez  de Guatemala–Guatemala), Ana María de Jesus Solano (Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala–Guatemala)

The CarbaTeam group is made up of Guatemalan students from the San Carlos University of Guatemala and the Mariano Gálvez University of Guatemala, our proposal is focused on pillar 1 since it seeks to implement the “Blue Carba Test” in public laboratories that do not have complex infrastructure nor with molecular technology.

4. Infection Inhibition Innovators

Team Members: Erica Lin (UC Davis School of Medicine–Sacramento), Christina Lowry (UC Davis School of Medicine–USA), Annica Stull-Lane (UC Davis School of Medicine–Sacramento)

Our team comes from UC Davis School of Medicine, located in the Capitol of California in the United States. The proposed innovation solution falls under Innovation Pillar 1: Ensuring effective prevention and treatment of emerging infectious diseases in the hospital setting. We propose to develop sustainable and facility-specific antibiograms, with a focus on resource-limited settings, to improve antimicrobial stewardship, minimize development of resistance and mitigate antimicrobial treatment failure.

6. Team Apollo

Team Members: Muthoni Muritu (University of Nairobi–Nairobi, Kenya), Ryan Gitonga Wanjohi (University of Nairobi–Kenya), Sandra Boyani (University of Nairobi–Nairobi, Kenya)

Our team, Team Apollo, consists of 3 medical students from the University of Nairobi, Kenya who are keen on the multi-sectoral concept of Healthcare Delivery Systems at the hospital level. Our proposed solution aims at bridging gaps in the first innovation pillar through curbing the spread of infections within hospitals. We intend to develop a technology-based surveillance system that is geared towards promoting epidemiologically sound surveillance within our local hospital settings.

Innovation Pillar 2: Making community health systems more resilient to emerging infections

8. Antibioclicks

Team Members: Inria Astari Zahra (Faculty of Medicine, Diponegoro University–Semarang, Indonesia), Rizki Akbar Sentosa (Faculty of Medicine, Diponegoro University–Indonesia), Lia Farhatania (farhatanialia@gmail.com–Semarang, Indonesia)

Antibioclicks from Semarang Indonesia making innovation from innovation pillar 2. We are going to make mobile application that provide antibiotics algorithm and choice for infectious disease in Indonesia especially in Semarang based on local resistance pattern. This application would help general practitioners to choose the right antibiotics.

10. Baltimore Network to Health

Team Members: Rani Duff (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health–Baltimore, MD, USA), Lauren Bisi (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health–USA), Grace Kwak (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health–Baltimore, MD, USA)

Johns Hopkins University – School of Public Health, USA, Pillar 2 – We intend on intervening in Baltimore and our goal is to bridge the gap of misinformation regarding COVID-19 regulations, recommendations, and resources in vulnerable communities in a way that makes the information more accessible, both physically and linguistically, through existing social networks (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) as well as through the Community Health Worker model.

12. CID

Team Members: Catherine Dominic (The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine–London), Grace Gysin (The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine–United Kingdom), Aahil Damani (The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine–London), Emily Bowler (The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine–London)

We are a group of students from the Control of Infectious Disease course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, from both the UK and the USA. We believe that our innovative solution has the capacity to combat one of the key drivers of antimicrobial resistance – lack of patient compliance with completing antibiotic courses and are dedicated to improving population health as a group, and understand the potential for our solution to make a difference. Our innovative solution is a simple mobile application which integrates antibiotic prescribing by practitioner, with patient symptoms follow-up if the prescribed thinks a period of ‘watchful waiting’ will be useful (in order to prevent over-prescription) and/or daily patient reminders if they are on an antibiotic course through notifications (in order to aid compliance). We hope to use the consultation between the patient and healthcare provider (clinician, pharmacist or another HCP who is prescribing antibiotics) to promote and “prescribe” (encourage them to download) the application. We believe that introducing the application to the patient in this way will improve both its uptake but also patients’ compliance with application, particularly if they are already familiar with the practitioner

14. DetectX

Team Members: Kirsten Stokes (Johns Hopkins University–Baltimore, MD), Opeoluwa Samuel Adewale-Fasoro (Johns Hopkins University–United States), Hanibale Atsbeha Zegeye (University of Bergen and Hawassa University–Bergen, Norway and Hawassa, Ethiopia), Debasis Gountia (IIT Roorkee–India)

DetectX is a diverse team of four individuals from IIT Rourkee, India, the University of Bergen and Hawassa University, Ethiopia, and two from Johns Hopkins University in the USA. Our proposed solution falls into Innovation Pillar 2 which is: Making community health systems more resilient to emerging infections. The proposed solution is a multifunctional community-based surveillance platform driven by local women of the community. It will enable early detection of emerging infectious diseases, discovery of novel pathogens, prediction of disease outbreaks and identification of the most pressing health related needs (e.g. nutrition, drugs) within communities to target interventions and improve resource allocation across LMICs. Our solution leverages existing early warning systems to assist governments and international organizations to detect and respond to emerging health concerns by empowering women and engaging local community members.

16. Kondor

Team Members: Mauricio Gonzales (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia– Peru), Jose del Castillo (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia–Peru), Niels Pachecho (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia– Peru), Alvaro Delgado (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia– Peru)

We are Peruvian medical students from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. We will address Innovation Pillar 2 by building a web-based app platform, that seeks to close the communication gap between primary healthcare providers and patients, using principles such as UX, design thinking, and data visualization. This in return will improve adequate decision-making and help prevent further disease spread in low-income communities.

18. Medbridge the Gap

Team Members: Varshini Odayar (Harvard College–Cambridge, Massachusetts), Bhuvna Murthy (Massachusetts Institute of Technology–USA)

We are Bhuvna and Varshini, undergraduate students at MIT and Harvard respectively. The aim of our project is to develop a freely accessible digital platform known as the “Medical Translation Tool,” where medical providers can input lay medical terms in ten languages and the output will include a thorough description of terms, symptoms, and experiences in English. Our project aims to address Pillar 2 by capturing the nuances of medical terminology, incorporating linguistic diversity, providing relevant diagnoses and related terms. We will identify differences between lay and medical language, by speaking with laypersons as a form of quality control, ensuring that input of those directly affected is represented in the tool, and through this tool, we hope to bridge linguistic disconnects, improve communication between patients and providers and among doctors, making healthcare systems more resilient and equipped at tackling emerging infectious diseases.

20. Project TBye

Team Members: Terence M. Lapenas (University of Santo Tomas – Faculty of Medicine and Surgery–Manila City, Philippines), Pamela Bianca M. Pasco (University of the Philippines College of Medicine–Philippines), Rena S. Mallillin (Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health–Pasig City, Philippines), Michelle Angelica D. Choa (University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, Inc.–Quezon City, Philippines)

Formed through the Asian Medical Students’ Association – Philippines, we are a team of medical students from different schools in Manila, Philippines. We aim to make health systems more resilient to emerging infections by studying the problem from the grassroots and engaging the communities with a more systematic approach to accountability with an ever-growing number of actors that contribute to the end-TB strategy. Our team’s proposed innovation is Project TBye, a multipurpose mobile application designed for healthcare workers that seek to provide surveillance, contract-tracing, networking, and health communication. We intend to strengthen efforts against TB through an integrative and holistic approach to the devolutionized healthcare system of the country.

22. SEPSIS

Team Members: Seungseo Choi (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia–Lima, Peru), Carolina Soledad Coombes Perez (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia–Peru/Peruvian), Maria Claudia Mauricio Levano (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia–Lima, Peru), Maria Teresa Peña Gallardo (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia–Lima, Peru)

We are Sepsis, a group of medical students from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Perú. We seek to tackle Innovation Pillar 2: Making community health systems more resilient to emerging infections. Our goal is to create a card game to the general public that explains key concepts on antimicrobial resistance and infection prevention. Through SEPSIS, we plan to teach the relationship between bacteria and antibiotics, the dangers of antibiotics misuse or overuse, the importance of preventive measures and most importantly, to introduce the concept of antimicrobial resistance.

24. Team ABHINAWAN

Team Members: Gehendra Mukhiya (Kathmandu Medical College–Sinamangal, Kathmandu, Nepal), Merina Pandey (Kathmandu Medical College–Nepal), Selika Shakya (Kathmandu Medical College–Sinamangal, Kathmandu, Nepal), Shova Sapkota (Kathmandu Medical College–Sinamangal, Kathmandu, Nepal)

We are team ABHINAWAN from Nepal comprising of four third year medical students from Kathmandu Medical College .Our proposed innovative solution is to develop a new mobile application “SAMAYAMAI” to conduct surveillance of antibiotic consumption and improve its compliance among general Nepalese population. Our innovation comes under pillar 2 “Making community health system more resilient to emerging health infections.”

26. Team imYOUnize

Team Members: Khushman Kaur Bhullar (Sri Guru Ramdas Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Amritsar, Punjab, India–Amritsar, Punjab), Saachi Datta (University of Pennsylvania–USA), Ana Beatriz Rabêlo Evangelista (University of São Paulo – Medical School–Sao Paulo, SP)

imYOUnize is a team hailing from three different countries (Brazil, India, and the United States) and three different institutions (University of São Paulo – Medical School, Sri Guru Ramdas University of Health Sciences Amritsar, and University of Pennsylvania). Our solution is a mobile application that integrates scheduling, transportation, notification reminders & education resources to connect low-income families with clinics to receive required vaccinations, and it seeks to address the Innovation Pillar 2: making community health systems more resilient to emerging infections. We hope to create a sustainable and dynamic application that can be used to not only keep immunizations on track during a pandemic, but also aid in introducing new vaccines efficiently.

28. Zoonotrace

Team Members: Sean Sum (Royal Veterinary College–Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom), Rebecca Sim (Royal Veterinary College–Singapore)

We are both Singaporean students who are pursuing veterinary studies at the Royal Veterinary College. As budding veterinarians, we are particularly concerned with the rise of novel zoonotic diseases. We believe that it is crucial to strengthen our surveillance efforts and capacity to mitigate the ramifications of SARS-CoV-2 but also Disease X in the future. In this design sprint, we want to focus on disease prevention by implementing a centralised digital surveillance mobile application that integrates both animal and human health and epidemiological data.

Innovation Pillar 3: Zoonotic disease transmission in food systems

30. Chickolutions

Team Members: Aiman Afsar (Maulana Azad Medical College–New Delhi), Kunal Kalani (Maulana Azad Medical College–India), Manvi Lamba (Maulana Azad Medical College–New Delhi), Safal Boob (Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackarey Medical College–Mumbai)

We are a team of 4 MBBS students from Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi and HBTMC, Mumbai from India.

Our team aims to reduce transmission of zoonotic infection through food systems whereby we aim to improve the poultry industry. We have designed a sustainable poultry farm model , that aims to utilize energy efficiently, with a free range housing system with vegetative buffers, vermicompost. We also have a plan for better water, temperature, feed, litter management with better vaccination and awareness campaigns regarding antimicrobial resistance.

32. Vets Against AMR

Team Members: Serinmary P R (College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode–Pookode, Kerala, India), Ajay Gopinath (College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode–India)

Vets Against AMR, is a team of two veterinary students, Serinmary P R and Ajay Gopinath ,from Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University – Pookode, India. The team has decided to work on Innovation pillar three, Zoonotic disease transmission in food system, focusing on reducing the antimicrobial residue in milk. The project titled Antimicrobial Free Milk Project is expected to monitor and control the antimicrobial use in livestock and thus reduce the presence of antimicrobial residue in the milk used for human consumption.