Since Marc Koska, a self confessed former beach bum, thought of a single use, auto disabling syringe, many injection milestones have come and passed but he had every reason to celebrate the latest one – that 1 billion K-1 syringes have rolled out towards a safer world.
But it has taken six painstaking years to achieve this milestone with 10 syringe factories licensed in between. Health experts estimate that more than half of the 16 billion annual injections in poorer countries are done with non sterile syringes or needles, many of which are often just rinsed in tepid water between injections.
“There have been too many set backs to remember now, but also a steady recognition, acceptance and ground swell of demand for Auto-Disable syringes especially in developing world countries. At times we have all felt that we were going backwards faster than forwards”, he says.
Koska’s invention pioneered a successful run of cheap, safe, mono injecting syringes that have helped avoid unsafe injections, in turn sparing over 5 million fatal viral transmissions across the globe.
An estimated 50 billion injections are given annually worldwide. In the developing world, more than half of these are made with unsterile syringes, often with supposedly ‘disposable’ models which are used many times. This cross-infects patients with serious blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis.
The World Health Organization estimates syringes are used on average 7 times in developing countries, creating tens of millions of preventable infections every year. One child dies every 24 seconds from unsafe injections.
The Star K1 has small ring etched on the inside of the barrel, which allows the specially-adapted plunger to move in one direction and not the other. After one complete injection is given the plunger will automatically lock in place, and break if forced, rendering the syringe useless so the next patient will also have a sterile and safe injection.
In 1984, Koska read a newspaper article predicting the transmission of HIV through the reuse of needles and syringes. Koska was fascinated by the problem and vowed to do something about it. He studied how drug addicts used syringes in the UK, visited several syringe factories, studied plastic injection moulding, and read everything available on the transmission of viruses like HIV.
After a year of intense study, he concluded that syringe manufacture was the key to the problem and went on to look for the solution that would stop deadly jabs. His company, Star Syringe, celebrated the milestone in May this year.
In designing the K1 syringe, Koska ensured it could be made on existing equipment with a small modification. It was made from the same materials and could be used in the same way as a normal syringe so that health care professionals would not have to retrain.
In 2005 Koska founded SafePoint Trust, a non-profit dedicated to educating children and health care workers in the developing world about how they can protect themselves when receiving and giving injections.
Image credit: Mel B at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
What a great idea. Patient safety still gives way to economics in developing countries, though. I’m sure that many of the health care providers in certain areas avoid buying these, though, to save money. They usually don’t have any other choice but to re-use. Not that it’s something that is OK to do, but does highlight the harsh realities facing some of these areas.
Great inspirational read.