Innovations in International Health Initiative, MIT

A number of technologies are designed at MIT to improve global health, but many of these devices languish as prototypes and never enter clinical use.  The Innovations in International Health (IIH) initiative is a program designed to foster collaboration between researchers and clinicians in order to help new inventions become clinically useful.  The initiative’s goals are to be focused on global health, to be agile enough to pursue new opportunities quickly, and to be open to global collaboration.

One example of a product being developed with the help of IIH is a tool called X out TB.  This device is designed to ensure that people with tuberculosis (TB) take their medication as directed.  Failure to complete a course of medication for tuberculosis can lead to the development of multi-drug-resistant TB.  The X out TB device reveals a special code each day if a patient has taken his or her medication, and by sending this code to a person monitoring public health, the patient can earn a financial reward.  Other devices being developed by IIH include an inhalable vaccine, a handheld device for processing nucleic acids, and a vending machine designed to dispense testing strips for glucometers.

The IIH initiative is eighteen months old and has connections in more than 15 countries.  It has fully functional laboratory sites, called H-labs, in the United States, Pakistan, and Nicaragua.  At the moment, it is involved in 22 projects.  By bringing together people with expertise in all stages of the product development process, the IIH initiative seeks to increase the speed at which innovative technology moves from the laboratory to the end user.

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