Brian Gitta, a 24-year-old Makerere University graduate of Computer Science has won the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. He is the first Ugandan to win the prestigious Africa Prize, and the youngest winner to date. Gitta wins the first prize of UK £25,000 (124 million Ugandan shillings).The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK, is Africa’s biggest prize dedicated to engineering innovation. It encourages talented sub-Saharan African engineers, from all disciplines, to develop innovations that address crucial problems in their communities in a new, appropriate way. At an awards ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya on 13 June 2018, four finalists from across sub-Saharan Africa delivered presentations, before Africa Prize judges and a live audience voted for the most promising engineering innovation.
Gitta and his team which he personally recruited while at campus, Joshua Businge, Josiah Kavuma and Simon Lubambo, all who were students skilled in engineering hardware, developed Matibabu, a device which tests for malaria without drawing blood. Matibabu, which means ‘medical centre’ in Swahili, is a low-cost, reusable device that clips onto a patient’s finger, requiring no specialist expertise to operate. The results are available within one minute on a mobile phone that is linked to the device. A red beam of light shone through the user’s finger detects changes in the shape, colour and concentration of red blood cells, all of which are affected by malaria.
Gitta and his team’s success comes shortly after being approached by international researchers offering support and are currently writing up their ground-breaking findings into an academic paper, to be published within the next few months.
“We are very proud of this year’s winner. It’s a perfect example of how engineering can unlock development – in this case by improving healthcare,” said Rebecca Enonchong, Africa Prize judge. “Matibabu is simply a gamechanger.”
Gitta commented: “We are incredibly honoured to win the Africa Prize – it’s such a big achievement for us, because it means that we can better manage production in order to scale clinical trials and prove ourselves to regulators. The recognition will help us open up partnership opportunities – which is what we need most at the moment.”
Way to go!
