Organization:Engineering World Health

Overview

Engineering World Health (EWH) is a non-profit organization mobilizing the biomedical engineering community to improve the quality of health care in hospitals serving resource-poor communities in developing countries. Founded in 2001 by Robert Malkin and Mohammed Kiani in Memphis, Tennessee, Engineering World Health now serves a global community. EWH aids in donated and new medical equipment installation, equipment repairs, and provides training to biomedical technicians in order to build local capacity to both manage and maintain medical equipment. The head office is now located in Durham, North Carolina. 

To accomplish their goals, Engineering World Health focuses on two main program branches. The first program branch is the student programs, which includes university Chapters, Kit builds, STEM volunteer teaching, the annual Design Competition, and the Summer Institute. Each program raises awareness of how biomedical engineering can help solve global health challenges, and works to engage the skills of engineering students from around the world to educate others and repair life-saving medical equipment in places like Rwanda, Tanzania, and Nicaragua. 

The second program branch is the BMET Training programs. In collaboration with local partners in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, these programs provide professional training that build in-country, self-sustaining bodies of biomedical engineering technicians (BMETs). This program works closely with local Ministries of Health, public hospitals, universities, and local engineers and doctors in order to build the network needed to sustain these training programs after the projects duration. The BMET Training programs are based on a 3-year curriculum developed in partnership with Duke University and then tailored to each country’s needs. Engineering World Health initiates and executes the programs, but the ultimate goal is to transfer the programs continuation on to local educators.  

Purpose

Engineering World Health's long term goal is to help build an international community of biomedical engineers with a free exchange of knowledge and information. In building this community, EWH aims to end developing nations’ current dependence on developed nations for health technology and knowledge. According to Jessica Baker, Manager of Communications and Development at EWH, a key part of their mission is the participation of students. The innovation to raise the awareness of global health challenges is powered by the creative perspectives of students to find new solutions to old problems. EWH strives to be recognized internationally as a leader in introducing and developing novel health care technologies for resource-poor settings and mobilizing the biomedical engineering community to improve the quality of health care in developing countries.  Engineering World Health is also a global leader in providing students and volunteers with the life-changing experience of contributing to and improving lives in vulnerable communities.

Distinct Differences From Other Offerings

Engineering World Health occupies a unique niche in that no other organization exists focusing on biomedical engineering education. EWH offers knowledge exchange and training for students and technicians from both the developed and developing world to improve health care delivery within the developing world. The application of a two-sided branch program within the organization offers distinct training opportunities not available through any other programs or organizations. 

The student programs raise awareness on campuses of health care challenges in the developing world. Engineering World Health provides campuses with support and advice for members who wish to evaluate and repair medical equipment donated to developing world hospitals, design appropriate technologies, and the ability to join in the invaluable experience of traveling to developing countries to provide engineering support to local hospitals and schools. The EWH Design Competition is available exclusively to Chapter Members.

Currently, Engineering World Health is working to expand their Summer Institute. The Summer Institute is a two month study abroad program that places students within hospitals in the developing world.  After four weeks of language and technical training, students will spend four weeks working as biomedical equipment technicians. This life-changing experience is becomming available to more students because EWH is implementing programs in more countries and connecting with more universities.

The BMET training program fulfills another unique need by creating professional training programs to empower developing nations to solve in-country health crisis with sustainable program initiatives. 

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

Notable 2013 Student Projects

In exchange for an annual fee to support the local chapter, the EWH provides comprehensive packages of financial benefits, guidance on how to operate a chapter and manage numerous activities that are interesting, fun and beneficial to the community, as well as technical support throughout the year. Chapter members are also eligible for travel awards to participate in joint activities with other chapters, either domestically or in developing countries.

At the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the EWH chapter is working in collaboration with the UCSD Center for AIDS Research and designing cost-effective lab equipment to run an HIV treatment analysis in resource-limited settings. This nucleic acid test is used to detect drug resistant forms of HIV. By introducing methods of treatment surveillance to the developing world, the hope is to contain the spread of drug-resistant forms of HIV and preserve second and third lines of anti-retroviral medication. EWH at UCSD has begun work to design automated devices for viral RNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA amplification, and gel electrophoresis.    

At Duke University, the EWH affiliate student team spent the summer in Guatemala where they helped hospitals and clinics repair medical equipment at the National Hospital de Quetzaltenango in Xela.  “The goal of the trip was to help a poor hospital in Guatemala repair and maintain their medical equipment,” said Robert Malkin, founder and director of Duke-Engineering World Health. The students worked as a team on all projects and took turns diagnosing issues, repairing & cleaning equipment and keeping records on all the equipment they worked on.

During the trip, the students helped the local staff work on 18 pieces of medical equipment, placing 15 back into service. The equipment included sophisticated monitors, electrosurgical units, ventilators and additional apparatuses the technical staff at the hospital was not equipped or trained to maintain or repair.

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2012-2013 Student Chapters

Engineering World Health is in touch with groups around the world who are seeking to form university chapters. The following universities currently have student chapters in good standing for the 2012-2013 academic year:

View EWH Chapters on a Map

• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
• Case Western Reserve University
• Clemson University
• Cornell University
• Duke University
• ITESM Chihuahua, Mexico
• ITESM Monterrey, Mexico
• Johns Hopkins University
• Lund University, Sweden
• Marquette University
• NIBE-Nigeria
• North Carolina State University
• Northwestern University
• Purdue University
• Stony Brook University
• Texas A&M University
• University of California, San Diego
• University of Illinois at Chicago
• University of Maryland, College Park
• University of Michigan
• University of Portland
• University of Texas, Austin
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Western New England College
• Yemen University of Science and Technology

Steps Required To Bring Resource to Campus

To form an EWH chapter you need the following:

1. Find core members of whom at least three are EWH Affiliates
2. Find a faculty advisor
3. Appoint a president, vice-president and treasurer (all of whom should be EWH Affiliates)
4. Submit a Chapter Agreement and Chapter Roster for approval by EWH headquarters. (the Chapter Agreement is slightly different for student-funded and university-funded chapters)
5. Pay EWH your fee and submit with the Studen Affiliation Application Form for each new EWh Affiliate.
   • Student funded chapters cost $35 per student. The cost of a university funded EWH chapter is $600, renewable by October 30 of each year. Payments made after April 1 for the creation of a new chapter are good until October 30 of the following year. This includes 10 EWH Student Affiliates. Students must complete the registration forms and send these to EWH. Additional students can join at $35 each.
6. Plan activities in the first semester or first year

Other students who become members of the chapter are encouraged to become EWH Affiliates in order to qualify for additional benefits. Chapters typically raise funds or secure grants from their school to cover these costs and/or support other chapter activities.

For more information on the university-funded option, click the previous link. In this scendario, the university or department will pay the annual fee for a package of benefits, including EWH Affiliations for 10 students and reduced fees for EWH conferences and design competitions. We recommend that chapter presidents discuss details of university affiliation with their faculty advisor.

Contact Information

Make use of the built in contact form provided by Engineering World Health, found on their Contact Page, or contact them directly at info@ewh.org.

The Prizery, Suite 200
302 East Pettigrew Street
Durham, NC 27701
Phone: +1 (919) 682 - 7788

Engineering World Health Blog also posts regular updates about their programs around the world. Additionally, the Facebook and Twitter pages provide a good sense of EWH's day-to-day activities.