Our Projects
Infant Nutrition
The Problem
Acute diarrhea is the major cause of death of infants under two years of age, while protein energy malnutrition accounts for over half of all child deaths in developing countries.
Acute and chronic diarrhea cause damage to the lining of the child’s stomach which disrupts their ability to digest and absorb proteins. Breaking down large proteins requires energy and takes time. Infants suffering from acute protein energy malnutrition may die of organ failure as energy required for essential organs is diverted to the digestion process.
Recurrent bouts of diarrhea, coupled with poor nutrition based on staple plant crops such as wheat, maize and rice, result in chronic protein energy malnutrition symptoms, lowering children's resistance to infection and disease due to low bodyweight. They are more likely to die from common ailments and those that do survive have frequent illnesses which sap their strength, locking them in to a cycle of recurring sickness.
In the developed world acute life threatening diarrhea and protein energy malnutrition is treated by administering a cocktail of essential amino acids either into the child’s vein or through a tube directly into the stomach. These amino acid mixtures, unlike whole proteins, are readily absorbed across the gut providing an instant source of energy and facilitating rapid recovery.
Sadly these proprietary life saving amino acid products are very expensive and not readily available throughout the developing world.
In summary, there are two key issues adversely effecting infant nutrition in the developing world setting, the availability of affordable high quality protein foods and access to amino acid based therapeutic foods and medicines for treating acute and chronic protein energy malnutrition.
The Solution
Working in technical collaboration with International food technology and nutritional scientists, Medicine Mondiale is developing an improved range of a high quality, low cost, predigested protein formulations which may be used to combat acute diarrhea and protein energy malnutrition on a global scale.
These novel products are manufactured from low cost by-products from the meat and fruit industries, utilizing innovative technology to hydrolyze meat and fish proteins into a mixture of free amino acids, peptides and solubilised proteins which are readily absorbed by sick children.
Proteinforte can be manufactured from a number of food sources including beef, chicken and fish. Mixed with natural carbohydrates, the finished product is a nutritionally balanced freeze dried powder, specifically formulated for the treatment of diarrhea and protein energy malnutrition
Proteinforte is supplied in an easily transported 19 gram sachet of freeze dried powder and has a three year expiry period.
Unlike plant based proteins, which typically have very low levels of the amino acid Lysine which limits the rate of digestibility, Proteinforte contains high levels of all essential amino acids required for healthy nutrition and growth.
Proteinforte provides an instant source of energy through the rapid absorption of amino acids and helps to restore normal digestion and represents the perfect balance of amino acids, peptides and solubilised proteins to support healthy development. Individual amino acids provide an instant source of energy and complimentary peptides improve transport of amino acids across the gut and repair damage caused by rotaviruses while solubilised proteins ensure that the normal digestion process is restored. Proteinforte has been specifically developed for use in the treatment and prevention of protein energy malnutrition however, equivalent products are being developed as high tech "Energy" Soups for the proprietary Australasian instant dried soup market.
This is in line with our philosophy of ensuring that those in need in the developing world have access to first world healthcare solutions at an affordable price.
Acuset IV Flow Controller
"the acuset IV flow controller has the potential to save millions of lives and improve the quality of clinical care in almost every clinical discipline throughout the developing world."
The Problem
The administration of medicines and rehydration fluids by Intravenous Infusion (IV) is the most common medical procedure employed worldwide. In first world hospitals, microprocessor controlled syringe pumps, costing $US2,000 plus, are used to ensure accurate and safe drug delivery. However, in the developing world, a 50 cent plastic roller clamp is used to control IV flow rates for the administration of highly potent medicines.
The traditional “roller clamp” is not intuitive to use and, due to its highly sensitive adjustment mechanism, even trained medical staff have difficulty in setting and maintaining accurate and safe infusion rates.
For example, when administering potent drugs such as anesthetic and HIV and chemotherapy drugs, a 3mm movement of the roller clamp may be the difference between life and death. It is almost impossible to accurately control low IV infusion rates required to safely treat children.
In addition, changes in the hydrostatic pressure as the infusion bag empties and cold flow creep inherent in the IV set tubing flow rates decrease over time means nursing staff have to constantly readjust the roller clamp to maintain the correct infusion rate.
In the developing world in many crisis situations patients are left to treat themselves often with fatal results. For example, the traditional roller clamp has no markings to permit flow rates to be accurately set or reproducibly controlled or to indicate if the clamp is in the “open or shut” position.
Movement of the patient or IV line can change the roller clamp setting resulting in under or over administration of IV infusion fluids, often with fatal results.
"This is a massive problem. Approximately 3.5 billion IV sets are used annually throughout the developing world."
The Solution
Medicine Mondiale has developed the Acuset IV Flow Controller, a reusable IV Flow Controller which is intuitive to use even by relatively untrained operators and eliminates the clinical errors associated with the use of the traditional roller clamp IV flow controller.
The patented Dial-a-Flow mechanism allows flow rates to be accurately set and maintained with a high degree of accuracy and precision improving patient safety and making every dollar spent on healthcare stretch further.
The Acuset IV Flow Controller clips to the outside of the IV set and therefore is reusable, which means the purchase price may be amortized across a range of patients.
The Medicine Mondiale Acuset IV Flow Controller has the potential to save millions of lives and improve the quality of clinical care in almost every clinical discipline throughout the developing world.
For Sales enquiries contact sales@medicinemondiale.org.
Infant Incubator
The Problem
Worldwide every year five million infants die as a result of low birth weight and infection.
The majority of these deaths could be prevented if infants had access to high tech life saving infant incubators.
Sadly, first world incubators cost over $15,000 and cannot be serviced and maintained locally and are not designed for use in the challenging developing world market. Proprietary infant incubators are designed for use in air-conditioned environments where infants are regularly cleaned and maintained in a highly sanitary environment.
Our research has shown that microbiological contamination within proprietary incubators in the developing world setting is up to ten thousand times that of incubators used in a modern hospital in the developed world.
The high levels of bacteriological contamination within the infant compartment, which may comprise of pathogenic bacteria, is caused by contamination within the structure of the infant incubator and by the inherent bioburden associated with a sick infant.
The temperature and humidity within the incubator provides an ideal environment for the propagation of pathogenic bacteria and may cause life threatening infections to at risk infants and caregivers.
The Solution
Medicine Mondiale is developing a state of the art low cost, highly reliable infant incubator designed for use in the developing world setting.
The Medicine Mondiale Liferaft Infant Incubator is a radical departure from traditional infant incubator design.
We have spent three years researching end user requirements for the development of an affordable highly reliable, virtually maintenance free, infant incubator for use in the developing world setting.
Traditional incubators use heating elements and have HEPA filters which filter out bacteria entering the incubator and require replacing after 10,000hrs use.
In practice, once an incubator fails in the developing world setting it is simply pushed into a corner and forgotten. This is because there is no one technically trained and competent to repair the incubator but mainly because there is no budget allocated to purchase spare parts.
The average lifecycle of an infant incubator in the developing world setting is typically less than two years.
Using technology based on NASA long haul space flights, we have developed a patentable infant incubator heating and sterilization module which has a ten year life cycle, obviating the need for in the field servicing and maintenance.
All components of the Liferaft Incubator are being lifecycle tested to 100,000 hrs to ensure a virtually maintenance free highly robust infant incubator.
Using a combination of long life sterilizing UV LEDS and nanoparticulate silver coatings, air within the infant incubator is maintained free of bacteriological contamination while the modular design of the incubator facilitates ease of cleaning using locally available cleaning agents.
While the Liferaft Incubator utilizes state of the art technologies, through the clever use of high tech low cost materials of construction we are able to keep the cost of manufacture to US$1,500.
The Medicine Mondiale Liferaft Incubator will be manufactured in accordance with recognized international standards for the manufacture of infant incubators including, IEC- 601-1, ISO 7767,ISO 9001,ISO 13485 and CE Mark.
In addition to providing a safe temperature controlled environment free from pathogenic bacteria, the Liferaft Incubator incorporates a non UV Blue light LED Phototherapy System for treatment of Bilirubin.
Commercial production of the Liferaft Incubator will commence in 2011 following successful validation of lifecycle testing.
Ethical Science Group
The Problem
Despite the well meaning efforts of Governments and International NGOs and the dispersement of billions of dollars of aid, primary healthcare in the developing world setting has not improved significantly in the past twenty years.
Divya Dhar Ethical Science Group Coordinator
Independent assessments show that there is a large gap between public statements made by NGOs and what is realized in practice.
Most critically, many development initiatives are "action" driven rather than quality driven which results in poor, non clinically proven, products and practices being applied which is wasteful and often results in poor healthcare outcomes.
Non Governmental Organizations are mostly self regulated and often deploy products and services which are not subject to the same scientific rigor and mandatory regulatory requirements required in the developed world.
The Solution
Medicine Mondiale has established the Ethical Science Group and independent panel of experts and student volunteers who conduct Quality Analysis of Global Healthcare Initiatives to determine the effectiveness and efficacy of healthcare initiatives deployed in the developing world setting.
This comprises reviewing the quality and reliability of clinical trial data used to support (validate) global healthcare initiatives including meta statistical analysis of current research archives and Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA Risk analysis) of global healthcare strategies.
The aim of the Ethical Science Group is to improve the quality and efficacy of healthcare throughout the developing world.
Our research results will be published in Medical Journals and distributed to NGOs and the International media.
If you are interested in contributing to the Medicine Mondiale Ethical Science Group contact divya@medicinemondiale.org.
Cataract Surgery
The Problem
In 1992 the average cost for an Intraocular Lens required for modern cataract surgery was US$300
The lack of availability of affordable lenses was a major impediment to the adoption of modern cataract surgery throughout the developing world.
Millions of people were unnecessarily blind due to the high cost and availability of Intraocular Lenses.
The Solution
Between 1993 and 1997 Ray Avery, CEO and Founder of Medicine Mondiale, designed and commissioned two state of the art Intraocular Lens (IOL) Laboratories, one in Eritrea and one in Nepal.
Today these laboratories supply 13% of the world market for IOLs and, together with the efforts of other generic lens manufacturers, have seen the price of lenses decrease to less than $6.00 making modern cataract surgery available to the poorest of the poor.
To purchase high quality intraocular lenses contact: