In the West African country of Ghana, “there’s somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 rural health clinics” that provide the majority of health care services to its population, says Lee Makowski, professor of bioengineering and chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University.

“Current biomedical devices,” Makowski says, “are very expensive,” and many — if not most — of these clinics cannot afford them.

Makowski also points to a lack of training on such devices — “they’re over-engineered, they’re overly complex” — and an inability to receive spare parts or maintenance as further problems the rural health clinics face.

With the Bioinnovation Center, in partnership with Northeastern and housed at Academic City University College in Accra, Makowski envisions a hub of development — aligned with entrepreneurship — that could change the face of health care in West Africa.

Read more from Northeastern Global News.

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