Israeli Innovators Want to Help Africans Breathe Through COVID-19
With fears of ventilator shortages still growing, 300 businesses and nonprofit groups around the world are gearing up to produce breathing support machines using an Israeli DIY design they downloaded from the internet.
Its inventors, who are drawn from the tech, military and medical sectors, say they think their blueprint for a ventilator that can be produced for as little as $500 could avert a collapse of health care systems in Africa, where the coronavirus is expected to strike hard soon. Some of the parts can be 3D-printed straight from the online design.
“This can ventilate millions in Africa when no other machine is around,” said innovation consultant Eitan Eliram, commenting: “In Africa, they haven’t fully woken up to the coronavirus and there are hardly any ventilators, so this can make a huge difference.”
In fact, there are fewer ventilators in the whole of Africa than in Israel. Just 2,000 working machines serve 41 African countries, and ten African countries have none, according to the World Health Organization.
Read More: JNS