“Malaria Monitor” Wristwatch Helps to Fight Malaria

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

I’ve been to Africa for a photo safari, and let me tell you, though it was beautiful, it was also exhausting. Virtually everyone got sick (and not with a cold), the roads … well, don’t complain about anything around here. Imagine driving on the shoulder because the center of the road is too screwed up to drive on. And sometimes we drove most of the day, too!

Of course, before we went I received a bunch of shots, and also a big supply of anti-malarial pills. I had to remember just to take them not just during the trip, but for two weeks afterwards. A South African inventor has developed a wristwatch which he calls the “Malaria Monitor” which pricks your skin four times a day and tests your blood for malaria parasites. If found an alarm sounds and the wearer must then take three tablets that kill the malaria protozoa within 48 hours.

If the parasite count tops 50 an alarm sounds and a brightly-colored picture of a mosquito flashes on the watch face. The wearer must take three tablets that kill all traces of the disease within 48 hours.

Lubbe was approached by a major mining company to develop the device after it found high levels of malaria among workers in Africa was hurting productivity.

The watch will cost around 1,700 rand ($280), which Lubbe says is cheaper than treating a patient with severe malaria. Source: Reuters

We Say: I didn’t forget to take my anti-malaria pills, but some of that was because everyone else was taking them too! Something like this would be a great help, but probably less for tourists than residents and workers.