Nigerian college students’ progressive venture wins American college’s award

Some college students of Ladoke Akintola College of Expertise (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, have received a $500 prize for the Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Award on the thirteenth annual International Well being Applied sciences competitors organised by the Rice College, Houston, Texas.

The annual competitors anchored by the Rice 360 Institute for International Well being Applied sciences options pupil groups from universities internationally who current low-cost applied sciences designed to handle international well being challenges in resource-limited settings.

On the thirteenth annual competitors held on 21 April, Staff Pathfinder from Nigeria’s LAUTECH received the Fairness, Variety and Inclusion Award.

The staff is led by two college students of the Division of Mechanical Engineering in LAUTECH- Taoheed Oyewo and Emmanuel Ayanwole.

Different members of the staff, in line with Rice College, embody John Coker, Patrick Obumselu and Victoria Akintayo.

“They had been recognised for finest addressing variety, fairness and inclusion all through the method of designing an accessibility-focused sanitary seat and canopy for use with open bogs, that are widespread all through the world,” the establishment posted on its web site.

The Nigerian college students are a part of winners from 27 groups from eight international locations together with Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and the US who participated within the competitors.

Profitable entry

For the competitors, Staff Pathfinider offered a modified pit-latrine system that concurrently addresses Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and affords customers a hygienic and inclusive bathroom resolution. The staff known as it a Incapacity Inclusive Latrine PAN (DILPAN).

Mr Oyewo instructed Premium Occasions that DILPAN is designed to be put in on current pit latrines.

“Its options assist enhance hygiene and improve accessibility and inclusiveness,” he mentioned. “The system relies on a self-closing mechanism (trapdoor) that stops odour, flies and different pests within the pit from gaining entry into the pan and consequently minimises unfold of ailments.”

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He added that the trapdoor opens when faeces are dropped on the door thereby permitting the faeces to enter the pit and closes when no load is positioned on it.”

Different winners

A staff of undergraduate college students from Washington College in St. Louis, Fistula Fighters, received first place on the competitors with their design of a custom-fitted urine assortment cup and bag which might be discretely built-in right into a pair of bicycle shorts that may be worn below skirts or pants.

Staff Fistula Fighters’ innovation addresses the administration of urinary incontinence attributable to a vesicovaginal fistula, an irregular opening between the bladder and vaginal wall that causes involuntary discharge of urine from the vagina. Staff Fistula Fighters additionally took house a $500 prize.

The Second place prize of $350 went to Rice’s Staff TestTSH for its novel design of an easy-to-read, low-cost thyroid hormone take a look at for newborns.

Saint Louis College’s Staff Anemia Evaluation in Useful resource-Poor Areas took the $250 prize for third place.

The Crystal Sea Award, a $500 prize for the venture that finest expanded innovation in supplies sciences or digital innovation, went to Staff Child Belt from Bangladesh College for Engineering and Expertise.

The staff created a low-cost fetal heartbeat and uterine contraction monitor that can be utilized within the house to detect indicators of preterm labour.

The $350 Folks’s Selection Award went to Staff BambasúAid from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Occasions in partnership with Report for the World, which matches native newsrooms with gifted rising journalists to report on under-covered points across the globe.Inline picture