KEY POINTS:
It's not often that sexy and eminently practical go hand in hand, but that's what Ray Avery reckons he and his team have achieved.
Mr Avery's non-profit organisation Medicine Mondiale is about to start distributing the Acuset Improved IV Flow Controller throughout the developing world and he says
it could save millions of lives.
On its website, Medicine Mondiale says the traditional "roller clamp" used to administer intravenous fluids and medicines is tricky to use and, because of its highly sensitive adjustment mechanism, medical staff find it difficult to deliver medicine accurately.
The organisation says in the developing world, and especially in crisis situations, patients are often left to treat themselves.
The resulting under-administration of crucial drugs, including antibiotics and rehydration fluids, means people die needlessly.
At the same time, the over-administration of particularly potent medicines, including hypnotic and chemotherapy drugs, can be deadly.
"Some clamps turn off by accident, which results in death because people accidentally move it or knock it, and babies have died because they've rolled over on to it, or the mother has thought she's adjusting it when actually the flow has stopped," Mr Avery says.
Medicine Mondiale says the Acuset is far easier to use than the model currently used in the developing world, and is cheaper than the sophisticated devices used in wealthy countries.
The syringe pump devices commonly used in the developed world cost US$2000 ($2586) each, compared with the US$6 that the Acuset will cost.
Mr Avery says the Acuset's "sexy design" and efficient application are an effective combination.
"It's great to have something that fits into your hand, that looks good and that you can appreciate what it does," he says.
And he's obviously not the only one who thinks so. The Acuset has been nominated for the Saatchi & Saatchi Changing Ideas Award, which is held every two years and aims to recognise the world's most outstanding innovations and inventions, often those with humanitarian applications.
Mr Avery describes the Acuset as a practical response to a worldwide problem.
"It is about fixing that problem, it's not just about drugs," he says. "The distribution of this product could be accelerated greatly if we win this award."
An entirely Kiwi invention, the Acuset was designed by Auckland plastics company Adept from a prototype by Mr Avery and funded by entrepreneur and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan.
"This is a great thing for New Zealand because it means we're up there with the big guys," Mr Avery says. "Some of the nominees have invested US$200 million or more in their products and we have spent US$600,000 on something that could revolutionise medical care around the world."
"The next thing is just to get it into hospitals and start saving lives. We need a lot more distribution and so it's critical that people know what it is."
Murray Fenton, managing director of product developer Adept, says it is "just amazing" that the product has been nominated for the award.
"Millions of people die each year because IV fluids aren't delivered in the right way," Mr Fenton says. "In Third World countries, it's tremendous because they can't afford the pumps that we have in the First World countries and even if they did get them, they wouldn't be able to get them fixed if they broke."
"It's also nice for a plastics company to be involved with something like this instead of the usual junk like coathangers and flower pots."
Mr Avery says it's a great achievement just to be nominated for the award, but that's not to say winning wouldn't mean a great deal.
Winning would attract greater investment, give the product better distribution and focus even more attention on the problem it aims to address.
The winner of the US$100,000 award will be announced at a ceremony in New York on February 21.
This year the judges are psychologist and physician Edward de Bono, HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, American planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, designer Philippe Starck and musicians Peter Gabriel and Malcolm McLaren.
OTHER FINALISTS
LifeStraw: A personal, portable water purification tool that aims to solve the problem of millions of people in the developing world drinking dirty water.
Restoring sight to the blind: Addresses the problem of a diseased, damaged or no longer working retina to cure blindness by sending signals to the brain from a device like a digital camera.
Printing skin and bones: Uses inkjet printing technology to make complex tissue "scaffolds" on which cells can be grown, to eliminate the need for laboratory animals to be used in toxicology, solve the shortage of available transplant organs, treat chronic wounds and identify drugs that are toxic to specific cells.
PerspectaRAD 3-D display for cancer treatment: Uses special optics and software to produce hologram-like floating images to achieve better accuracy in radiation treatment of cancer.
One laptop per child: A compact, energy efficient laptop costing US$100 each, so that the two billion children worldwide with little or no education can learn.
Wadsworth brain-computer interface: Allows the world's three to four million totally paralysed people who are unable to communicate normally, to speak using brain signals.
Village Phone: Grassroots business offering people in poor rural communities the chance to set up a phone-rental business, enabling better communication with the rest of the world, including access to news, health information and danger alerts.
Speaking books: Uses children's book technology to relay vital healthcare messages about issues like TB, Aids, malaria and mental health to people in rural South Africa, despite high levels of illiteracy.
Crossbreed Collapsible wheel - a fold-down wheel allowing wheelchairs to be more easily transported in cars and taxis, and making bicycles more portable.
