Respiratory health commons
- Date
- 30 October 2021
- Venue
- online, conference held in Beijing
30.10 2021, Beijing – Presentation of 15 open-source commons for respiratory health at the general meeting of the Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases.
Projects presented (15)
Texts translated from English, based on the project gallery presented at the GARD general meeting.
-
Breathing Games
Playful respiratory care
Address low adherence to treatment with playful care, for oneself and among peers. Develop health and digital literacy through co-creation. Make it easier to collect breath data and use it as visual stories.
Project sheet
- Current version
- An open game environment for up to four people, games for children with asthma in 10 languages, an adjustable nose controller (inflow and outflow, resistance).
- Maturity
- Games playable on Windows and Mac; reproducible controller
- Licences
- AGPL 3 (software), CERN OHL S (hardware), CC BY-SA 4 (documentation)
- Cost
- €50 of materials + 6 hours (controller), €0 (games)
- Next steps
- Multiplayer game: have communities build levels. Asthma games: an international study in various settings. Controller: iteratively improve the casing and the results.
- A story
- A linguistics professor mobilised and coordinated some twenty volunteers so that our asthma games could be played in a dozen languages.
-
CEMI
Traditional medicine
Preserve a living heritage of community practices for taking care of respiratory health. Maintain local natural resources such as medicinal plants.
Project sheet
- Current version
- A guide to preserving air quality, understanding health as a global system, adopting healthy daily habits, and valuing traditional knowledge and natural remedies.
- Maturity
- Ready to use
- Cost
- Cost of growing medicinal plants
- Next steps
- Promote intercultural initiatives to recover and strengthen the knowledge and resources of traditional medicine. Action research to promote community health.
- A story
- A local committee of people who use traditional medicine co-created, with a regional university, a training programme that strengthens the intercultural skills of medical students.
- Links
- cemi.org.co
-
Art Hives
Social support network
Offer inclusive, freely accessible spaces to create solidarity, respond creatively to community challenges and cultivate the artist in every human being.
Project sheet
- Current version
- 224 art hives for dialogue, sharing know-how and artistic creation, mostly in North America and Western Europe, including online gatherings.
- Maturity
- Guides for starting an art hive (in person or online)
- Licences
- CC BY (guide)
- Cost
- Materials for starting an art hive
- Next steps
- Develop public-practice art therapy and contribute to it through qualitative and quantitative research, to make art therapy more accessible.
- A story
- A young adult with cystic fibrosis joined an art hive as a volunteer to meet other people, contribute at his own pace, share the music he created and learn to play the Tibetan bowl.
- Links
- arthives.org, arthives.org
-
Isinnova Charlotte
Mask valve
Quickly address the shortage of CPAP masks in hospitals, giving people the right amount of air or oxygen in a sealed system.
Project sheet
- Current version
- A 3D-printable valve that connects a commercial snorkelling mask to the oxygen supply, a PEEP valve and, if needed, a reservoir (with a 3D-printed fork piece).
- Maturity
- Ready to manufacture; not a medical device
- Licences
- Open source (licence not specified); the mask is proprietary
- Cost
- Filament + time (about 10 parts per day per printer)
- A story
- The start-up created a prototype, tested it and printed about a hundred units in three days. 1,200 makers contacted it to help with production.
- Links
- isinnova.it
-
MakerAsylum M19 O2
Oxygen concentrator
Mobilise local communities to build an oxygen concentrator in India; strengthen capacities to manufacture and maintain it locally, in a decentralised way.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Delta version, with parts sourced in India, 15 litres per minute, 96% concentrated oxygen, OSHWA certification, 150 contributing organisations.
- Maturity
- Functional testing complete, ready to manufacture
- Licences
- CERN OHL S 2 (hardware), MIT (software), CC BY 4 (documentation)
- Cost
- €1,000 of materials + 8 hours
- Next steps
- Strengthen repair and reuse capacities; research article on scaling up decentralised manufacturing (Cambridge); final certification of functional tests by NABL.
- A story
- One million face shields in 49 days, in 42 cities, then the M19 O2. The M19 collective designs open source centrally and manufactures in a decentralised way.
- Links
- makersasylum.com, github.com
-
OpenVent
Ventilation device
Address the shortage of ventilation devices with a design that can be manufactured quickly, in different countries and at low cost.
Project sheet
- Current version
- A ventilator combining an approved self-inflating bag and a motorised arm, with an adjustable PEEP valve, a standard air outlet and a settings interface. Requires a power socket.
- Maturity
- TRL 3
- Licences
- MIT (hardware)
- Cost
- €380 of materials
- Next steps
- Prototyping of 3D-printed flow sensors, laboratory tests (MHRA), application for authorisation as a medical device (FDA, EUA, ISO 13485), lifetime tests.
-
Polyvent
Ventilator co-design platform
Lower the barriers to developing and producing intensive care ventilators locally. Connect geographic hubs around a single, adaptable design, for accessibility.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Fourth prototype in development. Several interchangeable modules: gas propulsion, control, gas circulation, gas supply, etc.
- Maturity
- 6/10
- Licences
- CERN OHL S
- Cost
- €1,500 of materials + 50 hours + €300 shipping
- Next steps
- Complete the latest version and reproduce it six times to distribute it to the global hubs gathered around universities.
- A story
- We have been working as volunteers since the very beginning of the pandemic, and we keep growing!
- Links
- pubinv.org, app.jogl.io
-
OpenPCR
Genetic analysis hardware
Improve access to genetic research with a low-cost, do-it-yourself polymerase chain reaction (PCR) thermocycler, especially for low-resource regions, students and hobbyists.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Thermocycler with a 16-well block to run PCR, for sequencing and DNA barcoding. Heated lid, ramping at 2 °C per second. Software for Mac and Windows.
- Maturity
- Ready for production
- Licences
- GPL 3 (hardware, software and documentation)
- Cost
- €510 per kit + 5 hours
- Next steps
- The plans remain available, but the kit sold by the organisation has been replaced by a model ten times more expensive.
- A story
- Two master's students tested 60 seafood samples from sushi restaurants and grocery stores in New York: most were mislabelled.
- Links
- openpcr.org, github.com
-
OSPF OpenVax
Repurposing vaccines
Fight epidemics quickly and fairly by repurposing existing vaccines that are widely available, off-patent, inexpensive and proven safe, for care accessible to all.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Computational discovery and late-stage clinical trials. Create an ecosystem for participatory, computer-assisted drug discovery and generic manufacturing.
- Maturity
- Collaboration on phase 3 trials of a Covid-19 vaccine in Brazil
- Licences
- Public domain; open-source licences for pharmacy under development
- Cost
- 1% of the usual costs
- Next steps
- Develop the field, create an open research and development model, create a new generation of innate-immunity vaccines, and contain epidemics earlier and more fairly with vaccines already available.
- A story
- With the Indian government, completion of a multicentre phase 2b clinical trial of an off-patent adjunct treatment for tuberculosis, for less than 1% of the usual cost and ten years faster than usual.
- Links
- ospfound.org, ospfound.org
-
ANTICOV & DNDi
Repurposing treatments
Find treatments for mild and moderate cases of Covid-19. Guarantee affected populations living in impoverished regions access to low-cost treatments.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Clinical research under way in 13 African countries. Protocols, operating procedures and results in open access. Public tracking of participation, available the next day.
- Maturity
- Recruitment open (target: 3,000 participants)
- Licences
- Intellectual property agreements for shared rights of use
- Cost
- Affordable (at most $1 per treatment)
- Next steps
- Publication of the safety data analysis, opening of new research arms, identification of new candidate drugs, faster regulatory approvals.
- A story
- Thanks to compulsory licensing, DNDi was able to make one of its treatments available for €300, whereas the pharmaceutical manufacturer had initially set its price at €50,000.
- Links
- dndi.org, anticov.org
-
Geneva Hand Hygiene Model
Hand sanitiser
One person in ten contracts an infection while receiving care. Reduce the time caregivers need to wash their hands. Healthcare-associated infections kill 20,000 to 50,000 people a day.
Project sheet
- Current version
- The WHO hand sanitiser kills 99.9% of bacteria in a few seconds. Composition: ethanol or isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerol, cold sterile distilled or boiled water.
- Maturity
- Validated recipe, ready for local production
- Licences
- No patent
- Cost
- About €3.50 per litre (compared with €21 to €68 for a commercial product)
- Next steps
- Promote the adoption of effective hand hygiene in care settings and among the population. Strengthen infection prevention and control.
- A story
- In Kenya, Dr Pittet discovered that hand sanitiser cost three times the European price. He published the recipe created with W. Griffiths without a patent, so that everyone could obtain it.
-
Pulmonary Toolkit
3D lung modelling
Provide functional, robust software to visualise and analyse (segmentation, detection, etc.) 3D medical images of the lungs, for academic research.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Toolbox including: visualisation and analysis with a graphical interface (CT and MRI), a library of algorithms, a framework to run and develop algorithms, and an API for external code. Requires MATLAB.
- Maturity
- Alpha version
- Licences
- GPL 3 and others
- Cost
- €0 + time
- Next steps
- Develop features such as freehand editing, zoom, and exporting non-mesh data.
- Links
- github.com
-
BEclear
Transparent mask
Make a transparent mask that eases emotional connection and lip-reading while ensuring reliable filtration. Designed first for deaf people and educational settings.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Iterative design and testing, 1,500 units produced. A standard medical mask combined with a thermoformed plastic adapter. Aims for the KF94 standard.
- Maturity
- TRL 3
- Licences
- CERN OHL P (hardware)
- Cost
- €7 of materials or €17 for the product + shipping
- Next steps
- Laboratory tests (filtration, pressure, blood resistance, flame spread, sound) and user tests, design for manufacturing. Application submitted to a Canadian research fund.
- A story
- Launched by volunteers from Enable Buffalo, the project mobilised a dozen researchers in ten days to sketch a plan towards producing 100,000 units a month.
-
LogAir
Air quality mapping
Help everyone map air quality with inexpensive portable devices. Produce data to avoid polluted streets and drive changes in public policy.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Arduino-compatible hardware that measures fine particles and position, one point per second. An app and a server to collect and display the data.
- Maturity
- Reproducible and functional
- Licences
- CERN OHL 1.2 (hardware), Apache 2 (software)
- Cost
- €50 of materials + 1 hour
- Next steps
- Grow the community. Improve and characterise the hardware. Industrialisation.
- A story
- From Switzerland to China, LogAir helps citizens take charge of environmental health and advocate for healthier cities and communities, in six countries.
- Links
- logair.io, github.com
-
GNU Health
Digital health ecosystem
Offer medical communities and the people concerned a free, adaptable and modular software suite to manage services and medical records.
Project sheet
- Current version
- Hospital and laboratory management system (3.8), health information system, personal health record (1.0). ICD (9, 10, 11), ICF, HL7 FHIR, JSON-RPC, XML, GPG.
- Maturity
- Adopted by hundreds of organisations and millions of users.
- Licences
- GPL 3 (software), CC BY-SA 4 (documentation)
- Cost
- €0 + time, depending on complexity
- A story
- People with respiratory conditions track their vital signs, activity, diet and emotional state, and share them in real time with health professionals (Argentina's Covid observatory).
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