This summer (July 14-August 10), I made my way back out east to Boston to participate in the International Development Design Summit at MIT. I have always loved using my MacGyver style of engineering to solve everyday problems. I sought  to have the opportunity to use my engineering skills to aid in solving problems from around the world that are often overlooked with solutions taken for granted in the US. This is what engineering should be...using the skills we have (some formal, some from the “laboratory of life”) to work with those who are often overlooked in solving everyday problems. 

The projects this year represent amazing opportunities.  My team is working on a HIV Breast Milk project, or more commonly known around IDDS as ProjectM. One frequently hears about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, 700,000 children are born each year to HIV-positive mothers. However, the cause responsible for 30-35% of mother-to-child transmission cases—breastfeeding—is often overlooked. Research shows that approximately 50,000 babies acquire HIV annually while trying to gain the nutrition required to live from their mothers.

The WHO policy states that, ‘when replacement feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe, avoidance of all breastfeeding by HIV-infected mothers is recommended.’ However, using formula in low-resource settings has been shown to decrease infant survival due to death from diarrhea and malnutrition. Because of this, most mothers are left with only one option—breastfeed to provide their child nutrition, and hope HIV is not transmitted in the process. Our work is focused on the elimination of that unconscionable risk.

Our approach is to modify an existing nipple shield by adding a non-woven material (cotton-wool) containing a common compound that inactivates the HIV without harming the baby. This allows the mother to directly feed the baby rather than having to collect and heat the milk, which can result in social stigma. This method still requires more research and testing to establish that enough HIV is inactivated in the time during which the milk passes through the fabric. The team is currently working to identify laboratories to collaborate with for testing the efficacy of the HIV nipple shield and is looking into other potential applications of the device including nutritional supplement and pediatric medicine delivery. We are also applying for a Gates Foundation Endeavor Grant in hopes of securing funding for the project.

You can find updates on our project at: JustMilk.org

Other IDDS projects include an interlocking soil block maker, investigating power generation methods of daily household tasks, developing a medical tool that uses a scaled up method of micro-fluidics to diagnose in rural villages, to develop a ropeway system to carry goods up a steep hill in the Himalayas, to develop a method of pearl millet threshing that does not damage the crop, to develop potential software/network hardware for an educational television computer that is sold at markets in India, to develop a charcoal crusher to break up carbonized corn cobs in order to make them into charcoal using a current D-Lab invention, develop an infant incubator that can be used in rural areas, and to further investigate micro-hydro power as a method of power generation.

For more information about IDDS, I recommend reading the following news articles:

"Low Technologies, High Aims"
New York Times (Andrew C. Revkin. 11 September 2007)

"Fast, Cheap, and in Control"
Boston Globe (Felicia Mello. 9 August 2007)

"South-South Design Flourishes at MIT Summit"
WorldChanging (Jonathan Greenblatt. 14 August 2007)

"Practical, Actionable Innovation Swarms MIT Design Gathering"
Popular Mechanics (Jerry Beilinson. 8 August 2007)

"Necessity Is the Mother of Invention" (About Amy Smith)
New York Times (Pagan Kennedy. 30 November 2003)