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About Us
We are Texas Engineering World Health, an organization that creates innovative technology for developing world countries in a mission to make healthcare accessible and effective for those who need it the most. The primary cause for hospitals in the developing world to not be able to provide effective care is the lack of cost-effect equipment. Texas Engineering World Health aims to tackle this social issue by building a new medical device each year for the developing world.
Each year, our organization chooses a few projects that will help improve the lives and health of countless individuals in developing nations. This year, we have chosen 3 projects, each with profound impacts on the future of diagnostic technology for those in need.
Leukemia Project
Every year, 65% of all deaths associated with leukemia occur in developing countries. Of this percentage, over 50% occur in children, many who end up passing away before they are even diagnosed. Many of these deaths are preventable with early detection, proper treatment, and accurate diagnoses, yet there is little infrastructure in place to accurately detect leukemia in developing nations. This year, TEWH is developing a novel method to easily detect leukemia and other blood-related diseases from a simple blood smear. Instead of having to wait on inaccessible spinal taps or lab results, our solution will use a 3D printed imaging device coupled with a machine learning-based software solution to identify and classify leukemia at a lower cost. Through this solution, we hope to eliminate some of the cost and knowledge barriers associated with detecting leukemia in developing countries and improve the lives of thousands of people worldwide.
Seizure Detection Project
Around 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally. Generalized seizures can result in loss of consciousness, falls, or massive muscle contractions. When the patient loses control they will physically damage themselves and their surroundings. The onset of a seizure can be very unexpected for an epileptic patient and throw their daily routine into disarray. In the most severe cases, sudden death can occur during a seizure. 80% of epileptic patients live in low or middle-income countries, and 75% of them are not receiving the treatment they need. TEWH is proposing a low-cost seizure detection device for epileptic patients. We hope that this solution is able to improve the quality of life for epileptic patients who might otherwise not have access or funds to treat the symptoms of epilepsy.
Arrhythmia Detection Project
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in low-income countries. Arrhythmia, or an irregular heart rhythm, could indicate many heart-related conditions such as heart attacks, coronary artery disease, hypertension, stroke, or heart failure. However, the medical technology used to diagnose arrhythmia, such as EKGs, is expensive. TEWH is developing an affordable mobile arrhythmia detecting application for use in developing country hospitals and clinics that uses heart sounds to detect irregular heartbeats. In addition to providing a low cost option for developing hospitals, our arrhythmia detector can be used for remote monitoring of a patient’s heartbeat over time to prevent dangerous cardiac events.
How You Can Help
Your contributions fuel our organization! For all these projects, we will need to prototype physically and likely remotely. Your donations will support the purchase of prototype parts and the cost of transferring parts between collaborators. Additionally, the Engineering World Health competition we enter our devices in annually requires a large entry fee for prototype submission in return for professional feedback on how our devices can be improved. Lastly, your contributions keep student membership dues low, which is especially important given the financial challenges of COVID-19. We are grateful to each and everyone of you as your donations allow us to make a global impact even when we cannot meet physically. For more information on our organization and to see our past work, visit our website at www.texasewh.org.
Leukemia accounts for almost 1 out of 3 cancers in children and teens.
65% of all deaths associated with leukemia happen in developing countries.
About 1.16 out of every 1000 people with epilepsy experience sudden death during epilepsy (SUDEP).
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, taking around 17.9 million lives a year.
In an average lifetime, the human heart beats up to 2.5 billion times!
There may be up to 500 genes that relate to epilepsy!
