Dear Friends,

Beginning in March 2008, the Prajnopaya Foundation will screen an estimated 3500 people for TB in 45 of some of the poorest villages in Bihar. Thrice a week for 6 months, 80 workers will set out and often travel 30 miles or more to deliver four antibiotic pills to patients. This is a huge challenge – how can we ensure that pills and workers reach patients, and that the correct regimen is followed? And how can we scale such programs to stop 2 million preventable deaths due to TB annually?

Since January 2007, a group of MIT students and alumni has been working on technologies to address these challenges. The uBox is a rugged, electronic pillbox that reminds a patient when it is time to take medication, records when a patient has taken a dose, and then locks itself to prevent double-dosing. It also records interactions with workers and does all of this for just $2 per patient. The uPhone is a commodity cell phone modified to allow volunteers with basic training to record symptoms like temperature, night sweats, etc. which are invaluable in identifying patients who most need scarcely available medical care.

The first class of 19 uBox/uPhone workers graduated January 10, 2008 in the village of Dhanarua, Bihar! Prajnopaya recruited the workers and organized the workshop. The best from this class will now train others in three new provinces when we return to Bihar in March.

Our work has won several awards and we've raised $40K, which has funded eight uBox revisions, uPhone prototype development and training in Bihar. We now need $50K to fund our 200 patient trial starting in Bihar this April. The bulk of this money will be used to set up manufacturing, assembly and test processes, and the rest for monthly trips to trial sites over the course of treatment (6-8 months). Your support will enable successful execution of this trial, enabling us to proceed with a planned 1000 patient trial later this year. Please donate generously and join our quest to overcome the world's deadliest diseases.

Thank you,

Manish Bhardwaj, on behalf of Innovators In Health.