We work on Medical Innovations for Global Health to increase Universal Health Coverage

We are part of the TU Delft Global Initiative. Science for the benefit of people.All people.Worldwide

ABOUT

ABOUT US

The TU Delft Biomedical Engineering for Global Health is a research lab that is part of the department of BioMechanical Engineering of the Delft University of Technology.

We conduct research and design projects to increase global access to medical equipment. Together with our international partners we research the current usage and barriers to medical equipment in hospitals around the world, we work on new innovations to increase availability and we offer education within and outside Delft University of Technology.

SERVICES

Approach

Research

Our research focuses on designing and developing innovative medical equipment that increases global availability of equipment to treat patients all over the world.

We work for example on innovations to increase access to minimally invasive surgery for example by developing low-cost USB laparoscopes and a easy transportable laparoscopic tower. Additionally, we work on surgical training tools to increase training opportunities.

To support these innovations we conduct context studies to understand usage and barriers to use of medical equipment in low- and middle-income countries.

Design Methodologies

To ensure that the medical innovations we work on actually reduce current barriers to the use of medical equipment we believe that we need to ensure that equipment fits the context of use in the often challenging settings in LMICs.

We therefore developed a context-specific design methodology that guides the designer or project team to ensure that the design requirements are based on the contextual factors that influence the use in LMICs.

Education

We are motivated to inspire students and researchers to work on innovative solutions for global health by educating them on :

- How to design context-specific medical equipment by using our design method

- Understanding the working principles of medical devices frequently used in hospital settings

- Working in interdisciplinary and international teams

We provided courses for students in and outside of TU Delft.

Follow our free MOOCs:
Repairing and Maintaining Biomedical Devices & A Practical Approach to Health Technology Management

This courses have been designed by the interdisciplinary collaboration of both TU Delft biomedical engineers as well as the local expertise of the medical technicians of the Nick Simons Institute in Nepal to help new and emerging biomedical engineers/technicians working in low-income hospitals to care for biomedical equipment.

Enroll now

We have plenty of opportunities for students to do projects, go on an international internship or contribute to a project.

Please reach out!

Do you have a good idea for a project? Or do you want to collaborate or host students?

Please contact us!

E-mail us or finds us on LinkedIN

R.M.Oosting@tudelft.nl

J.Dankelman@tudelft.nl

DESIGN PROJECTS

Together with our international partners we work on a wide range of innovations to increase global availability of medical equipment, access to surgery and training opportunities for surgeons.

In all our project we collaborate closely with medical experts and we follow the guidelines of our context-specific design methodology.

ALL PROJECTS

Design a product to improve the ergonomics for healthcare personnel that holds a laparoscope during surgery in low resource settings

This study aims to design a sub-500-dollar modular laparoscope for gas and gasless laparoscopy that adheres to state-of-the-art image quality and design features.

A training phantom for vesicovaginal fistula repair was developed to train medical doctors in the treatment of simple fistulas by the transvaginal approach. The phantom is produced of 3D printed and silicone parts.

3D printed surgical training eye phantom for cataract surgery in a low-cost setting

A new videolaryngoscope, the Goodscope, has been developed which is cost effective, reusable and easy to clean.

The design goal of the project has been the development of a reliable, safe and intuitive user-interaction with the ESU system and a tailored design for maintenance in a variety of use-contexts in LMICs.

Integrating Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) into low-to-middle income healthcare contexts, with a specific focus on Nepal

Embodiment of a laparoscopic tower for the Kenyan healthcare context

A novel AWL device with an integrated imaging system is designed based on methods from literature and input from local end-users.

The goal of this project is to develop a universal fixator clamp for application in low - and middle income countries, providing fixation to both lower- as upper extremity open fractures.

The increase in popularity of handheld disposable vacuum extractors in low-resource clinical settings demonstrate the need for more ergonomic vacuum extraction solutions geared towards LMICs.

The goal of this project is to design and create a low cost total ossicular reconstruction prosthesis (TORP) for use in low-middle income countries.

Build your own -

Training phantom for a vesicovaginal fistula repair using 3D printed and silicone parts

A phantom model for a VVF repair was developed that can be produced and used in LMICs to train surgeons in the treatment of simple VVFs by the transvaginal approach.

All .STL files and a instruction file are made available open access.