The SafePoint Trust Blog

The Guardian - The Case For The Self-Destructing Syringe

2011-11-10T03:19:00.000-08:00

Watch the latest LifeSaver film, read the article and learn how Tanzania have taken a monumental stand in improving their healthcare by becoming the first country to exclusively adopt auto disable syringes.

This article, published in The Guardian shows the astounding figures on syringe re-use within healthcare systems and how SafePoint plan to change this! Many thanks to Sarah Boseley, Health Editor for The Guardian.

Tanzania Adopt LifeSaver

2011-06-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

Following on from our four brave mums who climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for a donation of LifeSaver AD syringes to Tanzania, SafePoint is proud to announce that this donation took place on Friday 3rd of June 2011.

Hon. Dr Lucy Nkya seeing how LifeSaver works for herself!

Marc made the donation of almost 400,000 LifeSaver AD Syringes in person, to the Honourable Dr Lucy Nkya (Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare). Dr Nkya pledged her commitment to our LifeSaver campaign by announcing that Tanzania is to become the first LifeSaver Country. To find out more about this incredible campaign visit our website www.safepointtrust.org

Peace One Day - Getting Above The Noise

2011-06-13T06:10:00.001-07:00

Marc will be talking at POD Talks - London on the 16th of June 2011. The event is entitled 'Getting Above The Noise" and is being held at the Royal Over-Seas League, London SW1. Marc will be joining a host of speakers including Ben Fogle and Davina McCall. To find out more / get your tickets visit www.peaceoneday.org

Marc's Ink Talk Now On Line

2011-05-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

See Marc's talk and learn the scale of the problem of syringe re-use. Does re-use only occur in third world countries? Find out here.......

Marc to Talk at Unite for Sight

2011-04-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

The Unite For Sight

Global Health & Innovation 2011 Conference

“A meeting of minds.”—CNN

The world's leading global health conference and social entrepreneurship conference.

The must-attend, thought-leading conference that convenes leaders, changemakers, and participants from all fields of global health, international development, and social entrepreneurship.

Marc's Talk, entitled 'I of the Needle' will be on Saturday morning during the 'Improving Health Systems' session. Click here to see the schedule and learn more about the conference.

Rethinking the Syringe

2011-03-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Read Marc's interview with PSFK and get his views on trends that make him optimistic about the future, transparency and inspiration!

Founder Marc Koska interviewed at TED 2011 on saving lives, syringe re-use and SafePoint

2011-03-11T03:48:00.000-08:00

Whilst at TED 2011 Marc was interviewed by TakePart, a digital media company with a singular mission: To make participating in positive change easy, rewarding, and part of everyday life.

To read this candid interview and find out more about TakePart, click here.

Hear Marc's Talk on NY Brand Lab Radio

2011-03-09T02:44:00.000-08:00

If you didn't get a chance to tune in to Marc's talk on NY Brand Lab Radio, don't worry! Click here to listen to the interview and hear SafePoints breaking news on Tanzania….

Positive Action Towards Safe Injections for Pakistan

2011-01-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Sindh Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday 12^th January 2011 aiming to regulate and control the manufacturing, selling and use of re-used syringes. Penalties of at lease two years imprisonment have been suggested - click on these links for the full story:

The Nation

Dawn.com

SafePoint are delighted with this news and are looking forward to continuing our Safe Injections for Pakistan Campaign.

Progress in Pakistan

2010-12-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

SafePoint is in the process of launching the "Safe Injections for Pakistan" campaign supported by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in conjunction with their Hepatitis Prevention and Control Program. Read these incredible article's in The Express Tribune & The International News to find out more and Click here to see the LifeSaver film that SafePoint have donated to Pakistan, to help launch this campaign.

A staggering 9/10 of all injections given in Pakistan are unnecessary and 7/10 of all injections given are unsafe. Click here to join our causes page on Facebook and give your support.

Marc's TEDMED Talk inspires Blog in Wall Street Journal

2010-11-23T02:13:00.000-08:00

Marc had the pleasure of speaking at TEDMED in San Diego recently. To hear more about his talk and the global problem of syringe re-use, read the blog written by Katherine Hobson, in The Wall Street Journal.

SafePoint Tanzania Awareness Campaign Gets Underway

2010-11-16T08:08:00.001-08:00

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The SafePoint supporters reach Uhuru Peak, Tanzania

All-mother group successfully conquers Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness of the dangers of syringe re-use in Tanzania

East Sussex, United Kingdom - The four intrepid supporters of the SafePoint Trust – Anna Koska, Nicoletta Iacobacci, Clare Beale and Catherine English – have recently triumphed in their mission to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. And not only have they completed this gruelling challenge in an impressive time, they are also celebrating being the first all-mother group to climb the feared Western Beach route. Congratulations ladies!

But now the hard work really begins. The SafePoint team has begun rolling out a hard-hitting campaign across Tanzania to raise awareness of the dangers of syringe re-use. Using one syringe to treat many patients is one of the single biggest causes of death in the developing world, and causes millions of infections each year in Africa and the rest of the developing world.

On their descent, the ladies travelled to Dar es Salaam where they called a press conference, attended by 25 major Tanzanian TV and radio channels. They informed their captivated audience why they took on the challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and their decision to raise money to donate single use (AD) syringes to Tanzania. Their climb has raised funds to contribute to their supplies in compliance with the ECSA resolution*.

Famous celebrity and comedian, Masanja, assisted the ladies in the press conference by demonstrating the three-point SafePoint message, taken from the WHO injection safety guidelines as per the diagram below.

New Packet, Used Once, Safely Disposed

Masanja validated the importance of safe injections and said, “I decided to help SafePoint make a public awareness film as I am a proud Tanzanian, and know that in the village where I come from, many people are unaware of unsafe injection practices.

“I hope that this film encourages healthcare workers to use a new syringe each time they give an injection, and that it informs our parents and children on the risks they take if they don’t demand one. To all fans of the Orijino Komedi Show, make sure you never have an unsafe injection again and spread the message for me.”

Yet, despite clear evidence pointing to significant numbers of deaths caused by a lack of injection safety procedures in many hospitals and medical centres in Tanzania, talks to date with Health Ministers in the country have remained unsuccessful. Marc Koska OBE, founder of the SafePoint Trust, originally met with the Hon Prof David Mwakyusa back in March 2010. At this meeting, the Hon Minister gladly accepted the donation of the film from SafePoint, and agreed to create a campaign to air it. But since this meeting, Marc has been met with closed doors and unable to progress with discussions further. For the SafePoint team, it is extremely frustrating, as they are only too aware from their experiences in other countries that public awareness is paramount to the changeover to single-use syringes.

Elections have taken precedence within the Tanzanian Health Authority, with little or no reference given to the unacceptable ‘unsafe injection’ culture. Also this week, Mr Deo Mtasiwa, Chief Medical Officer of Tanzania, stated his belief that no diseases have been spread through injection re-use.

While SafePoint appreciates the positive actions that have taken place in Tanzania to address the problem, such as the training of thousands of nurses, his claim is one that SafePoint rejects. Their view is backed by the announcement at the Annual meeting of The Safe Injection Global Network (SIGN) that a staggering 14% of all HIV infections are a direct result of unsafe injections.

Injection safety needs to move up the agenda, fast. Medical staff urgently need the resources to save lives; not to take them. Cost isn’t the issue - the cost of an AD syringe is 100 Shillings in Tanzania; the cost of a popular soft drink is 500 Shillings. “Mara moja katika maisha, mara nguni ni kifo.” A syringe used once is life. Used twice is death.

For more information, please contact:

Ginny Simpson
SafePoint Trust UK
The Granary
Pippingford
East Sussex
TN22 3HW

+44 (0)1825 713722
info@safepointtrust.org
http://www.safepointtrust.org

*Note: The ECSA (East Central Southern African Regions) resolution, passed and proposed by SafePoint in 2007, was signed by all 10 ECSA regions. Countries were to scale up their injection safety programmes by November 2009. SafePoint has already made and donated a public information film, with the support of SafePoint Ambassador, Masanja.

Background Notes to Editors:

Safepoint is a charity set up with a purpose to educate the next generation in safe healthcare.

This is done by delivering hard-hitting public awareness campaigns. We've done this to huge effect in India in 2008, resulting (April 2009) in the Health Minister mandating the use of Auto Disable (AD) syringes throughout all government-run hospitals. To date, Marc Koska, Founder of SafePoint, has been credited with saving well over 9 million lives.

Why Tanzania?

Tanzania is at the forefront of safe healthcare in Africa and will soon be the second country to convert over to Auto Disable (AD) syringes in the ECSA Region. With their policy already in place, trained healthcare workers and a public information film donated by SafePoint featuring Tanzanian celebrity and SafePoint supporter Masanja, they are ready to reduce the country's medical costs and ease the HIV/Hepatitis disease burden.

We climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to kick off Phase One of this new campaign – the raising of public awareness of the dangers of syringe re-use in Tanzania through all forms of media. We'll be visiting schools, orphanages and hospitals to talk with children, teachers and healthcare workers alike, getting the simple message of ‘one injection - one syringe’ across and donating syringes to kick start their participation in the campaign.

Facts and figures on unsafe healthcare

• Each and every year, due to unsafe injections, there are:

230,000 HIV Infections
1,000,000 Hepatitis C Infections
21,000,000 Hepatitis B Infections
Resulting in 1,300,000 deaths each year

(Source: WHO World Health Organisation)

• Some 17 billion medical injections are given each year, and 7 billion of these are unsafe
(Source: Hutin 2003)

• Malaria kills 1,000,000 - so this silent epidemic – unsafe injections - kills even more people each year
(Source: WHO World Health Organisation)

• In Africa, 20 million medical injections, contaminated with blood from a patient with HIV, are administered every year
(Source: Reid 2009)

• At least 50% of all injections given, world wide, are unsafe
(Source: WHO World Health Organisation)

• A syringe is used on average 4 times in the developing world

• Every 24 seconds, a child dies as a result of an unsafe injection

A big Thank You to the Kiliwarriors from SafePoint and our "Kili Moms"

2010-11-10T03:09:00.000-08:00

SafePoint and our amazing mum's (also known as "The SafePoint Chizi (crazy) ladies") would like to extend a massive thank-you to the Kiliwarriors.

Our brave mums were cared for every step of the way and couldn't recommend Kiliwarriors highly enough (pardon the pun!).

Anna Koska, Clare Beale, Nicoletta Iacobacci and Catherine Villeneuve summited Kilimajaro a day ahead of schedule and enjoyed the whole experience from beginning to end.

To view their blog as they climbed, or to follow others who are embarking on this amazing experience with Kiliwarriors visit: Kiliwarriors Facebook

Marc joins an impressive line-up at Jeremy Gilley's up and coming Speaker's Event

2010-11-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

Marc will be talking at the "Unleash Your Power of Influence" speaker's event hosted by Peace One Day & Triumphant Events.

“The next event is during the day on Friday 19 November in central London. It really is a win-win situation,” said Jeremy, “anyone who comes will get the chance to learn from some true visionaries; there are speeches, interviews, Q&A sessions and informal chats – it’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone who’s interested in their own personal growth – in business and in life. At the same time people can know that all the profits generated on the day go back to POD to help keep the organisation going”.

The 19 November event is entitled “Unleash Your Power of Influence”. The line up is impressive; speakers include Marc Koska OBE (Star Syringe), Sam Roddick (founder of Coco de Mer), Simon Woodroffe OBE (YO! Sushi), Daniel Priestley (Triumphant Events / Author), Steve Bolton (Platinum Property Partners), and of course Jeremy.

The speaker’s events also provide people with an opportunity to find out more detail about Peace One Day, our objectives and strategy.

“Many people who attend our speaker’s events become Peace One Day Patrons,” Jeremy told me, “these are an extraordinary group of like-minded individuals who are able to get behind Peace One Day with financial and strategic support. Many of the speakers themselves are Patrons. I think what we’re seeing, through the speaker’s events and the POD Patrons Programme, is a growing community of people who want to see Peace One Day succeed in making Peace Day known and observed throughout the world. I’m incredibly grateful. For anyone interested, please come to the speaker’s event on 19 November and find out what it’s all about!”

For tickets to the next Peace One Day speaker’s event on Friday19November,visit:

http://www.triumphantevents.co.uk

Marc makes the top 10 Inspiring Summit Stories at The Daily Beast

2010-11-09T06:07:00.000-08:00

Marc talking at The Innovators Summit

8. Marc Koska’s P.R. Campaign

One of the most inspiring things to come out of The Daily Beast Innovators Summit was the persistent argument from entrepreneurs that helping the world can be more than an act of grace—it’s also great business. Koska, for example, is the inventor of the K1 syringe, a non-reusable and auto-disposable syringe that took more than 17 years to develop but has since been credited with helping to save 9 million lives. In the developing world, Koska explains, the average syringe is reused four times, frequently in hospitals. One place where this problem was endemic was India, where 62 percent of injections in hospitals were carried out using dirty needles. Unfortunately, Koska just couldn’t get the minister of health to acknowledge the problem. “I asked for a meeting and he said no,” Koska recalls. “I asked him for another meeting and he said no…We hit a brick wall.” Rather than accept defeat, Koska started a PR campaign to shame the minister into reacting. “We made a film that dramatically showed the problem, and we were able to show this on television five and a half thousand times,” he says. “We had radio announcements from a very famous celebrity in India, we had 14 press conferences, 240 newspaper articles, and we were able to do that in a five-day period. Net result? “Seven hundred million people saw the message, and the minister saw me straightaway.” Soon after, the reluctant bureaucrat mandated the use of non-reusable needles (there are about 10 brands, aside from Koska’s); the law has now gone into effect in 11 Indian cities with an aggregate population of 250 million people.

To watch Marc at The Daily Beast click here: http://vimeo.com/16169642

Taken from "10 Inspiring Summit Stories" by Jacob Bernstein at The Daily Beast

The Climb:Tanzania - Day 9

2010-11-05T05:21:00.001-07:00

Catherine English, Nicoletta Iacobacci, Anna Koska and Clare Beale on Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, 19,341 ft above sea level - 3 November 2010

The Kili Mums celebrating their achievement with new-found friends

We did it! xxx

Text from Clare: Nov. 5
We are down. We have our certificates and these guys are shouting "one injection, one syringe!" They had no idea of the danger. Most of them have children and they are ready to make changes. We are all crying xx

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Nov. 5
The ladies had a 5.5 mile descent to Mweka Gate today where they celebrated receiving their summit certificates! They are now back at their hotel in Arusha. Congratulations again on their successful charity climb for SafePoint!

Marc Koska: Nov.5
Well done to Anna, Nicoletta, Catherine and Clare! Now get back to work! Marc xxxx

Nick English: Nov. 5
Well done Miss V, Anna, Nicoletta and Clare. Very impressed back here! No pressure for next challenge?!!

The Climb:Tanzania - Day 8

2010-11-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

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image:travelpod.com

The Kili Mums have done it!

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Nov. 4
Congrats to Anna, Nicoletta, Clare and Catherine! They all reached the summit yesterday afternoon! Today they made the long steep descent to Mweka Camp (10,145 ft) where they spend their last night on the mountain. They are happy and celebrating! They are now calling themselves the Safepoint Chizi (crazy) ladies! I am sure there will be lots of celebrating at camp tonight! It's a grand achievement for them!

Nik Miti: Nov. 4
im proud of you mom! you reached yet another goal you set yourself!

Follow The Climb:Tanzania via the Kiliwarrior Expeditions Facebook page:
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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 7

2010-11-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Text from Clare: Nov. 3
On way up to crater at 18,500. V steep rock climbing.

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Nov. 3
The Kili Moms conquered the Breach and they reached Crater Camp (18500 ft) under partly sunny skies! They are now experiencing the stunning, awesome glaciers of Kilimanjaro! They are planning to hike to the summit this afternoon!

Marc Koska: Nov. 3
Well Done Mums! We are all cheering you on back at climbing HQ. Love to all of you. Mx

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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 6

2010-11-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

The first photo we've received from the Kili Mums: can you work out who's who?

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Nov. 2
Anna, Nicoletta, Clare and Catherine had a short 1.5 mile hike to Arrow Glacier Camp (15,978ft.) today. Everyone is doing well! The weather is still cloudy with some snow falling. Best wishes to the "Kili Moms" on the breach tomorrow! They will be up very early tomorrow morning long before th...e sun comes up to start their trek around 5am.

Text from Clare: Nov. 2
Signal really bad. Going for summit a dat early. Tough going for me today. Huge day tomorrow climbing 1km in a day.

Christina Warren: Nov. 2
Yoo hoo! I know you won't be picking this up for a while but just to let you know I am thinking of you as you are climbing! Be safe. Tina xx

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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 5

2010-11-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Kilimanjaro Lemosho Western Breach Route Map from eben schoeman on Vimeo.

Our Kili Mums are taking the Lemosho/Shira/Western Breach route. It lasts 9 days and is the best way to experience the thrill of climbing Kilimanjaro. It is one of the least crowded routes, it is one of the most fascinating and it is long enough to provide proper acclimatization. It is essentially the same route as the IMAX team used during the filming of "Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa". The Western Breach route is more risky due to the potential for rock falls, which is why climbers are asked to wear helmets.

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Nov. 1
Second day at Sheffield Camp. Instead of resting today the group opted to go on an acclimatization hike. Lava Tower was a bit too snowy and icy to climb today. The weather is cloudy and foggy with some snow expected.

Gary Mott: Nov.1
Bite em back the little buggers, they won't like that. Glad you're all well and in high spirits, sounds like you're all enjoying the experience, keep it up. Will keep following your adventure and will write again soon X

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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 4

2010-10-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Safari Ants
image: hmcbrayer.blogspot.com

From the Kili Mums: Oct. 31
Day 4 now and here is a quick resume of our experiences to date. Bitten by safari ants. Drinking 4 litres per day with 4-8 hour hikes with only bushes to scurry behind. A wonderful crew who welcome us to camp in song and we eat like a sty of pigs. Freezing rain, racing hearts, spacey heads. Far too much laughter, not enough sleep. Now at Lava Camp 4.6 km. We are safe, freezing and very happy. Love to you all. xx

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Oct. 31
Today was a short 2.5 mile hike to Sheffield Camp (14,940 ft.) where they will spend 2 days. It's cloudy and rainy. Everyone is doing well! Tomorrow is a rest/acclimatization day.

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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 3

2010-10-30T16:34:00.001-07:00

Nik Miti (Nicoletta's son): Oct. 30
Go team!! Go mom!! nik

Gary Mott: Oct. 30
Please let Clare and the others know that Gary, Chris and the kids are very proud of them and to keep the sterling work up and big love from us all

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Oct. 30
Today was a long hike, almost 7 miles to Moir Hut Camp (13,700 ft). We did not hear from the team today yet as cell coverage from this camp is very tough!

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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 2

2010-10-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Carol Schoeman, Kiliwarrior Expeditions: Oct. 29
I just received a text from one of the mountain guides as follows:

"Anna's phone is broken. No signal for Clare until Sunday. Please let Clare and Anna's husband know this!"

It sounds like Clare's phone is working but will not get a strong cell signal until Sunday when they are at Sheffield Camp. Texting from Moir Hut camp tomorrow (Sat) is always really tough because cell service is very spotty to nothing at that camp typically. Coverage is much better at Sheffield Camp where they will be on Sunday for 2 days/2 nights to acclimatize!

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Oct. 29
Update - the trekkers are doing very well and happy! They are almost to Shira Camp (11,520 ft). and had some sunshine today! Today's trek was almost 5 miles.

Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Oct. 29
Everyone on the mountain is doing great and leaving Forest Camp this morning for the long trek to Shira Camp! The weather is cloudy with a little rain!

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The Climb:Tanzania - Day 1

2010-10-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

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Kiliwarrior Expeditions Mountain Report: Oct. 28
We did not receive an update today, but this is not uncommon as the group is deep in the forest where cell coverage is tough! After a short 2.5 mile hike today, their first night is at Forest Camp (9222 ft).

A text from Anna: Oct. 28
We've just filled our stomachs ready for a flat out day. 3 and a half hours of potholed typical African roads followed by 3 and a half hours trekking thru mosquito laced rainforest to a forest camp at 2,800 mtrs. Where we will settle for the night. Bye for now x

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The Climb:Tanzania has begun

2010-10-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

After months of training and fundraising, our 4 very brave mums Anna Koska, Nicoletta Iacobacci, Clare Beale and Catherine English have set off on their journey to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in aid of SafePoint Trust!

Our 4 mums are, in fact, the first all-mothers women group to ascent Mount Kilimanjaro along the particular route they are taking.

The purpose of The Climb:Tanzania is to raise enough funds in order to donate a substantial number of auto disable syringes to Tanzania. Auto disable syringes cannot be reused, so their implementation within Tanzania's healthcare system will drastically reduce the number of deaths from HIV and other blood-borne diseases that currently result from reused syringes.

As well as climbing up the mountain, they will be visiting schools, orphanages and hospitals in Tanzania to educate children, nurses and teachers in safe and sterile injection practice.

Here is a summary of comments made during the preparation stage of The Climb:

Anna Koska - 27 Oct 2010:
Kit check
Body check
Head check
Then we are off.
Please sponsor us if you haven't already. Even the smallest amount will make the hugest difference! And will give us a boost when the going gets tougher at 5000 m. We are very honored to be raising these funds for safepoint to buy these syringes. It will make the difference for the Tanzania! Xxx

Marc Koska - 27 Oct 2010:
Anna, Nicoletta, Clare and Catherine - Good luck on behalf of all at SafePoint Trust UK and all your supporters, and well done for raising the money that you have raised so far, that will be put towards the Auto Disable syringes that will be donated to Tanzania.

Kiliwarrior Expeditions - 27 Oct 2010:
Kiliwarrior Expeditions Today Anna, Nicoletta, Clare and Catherine had their gear inspection and climb briefing. Tomorrow...Kilimanjaro! The guides will be Faraja and Gideon who is taking Hosea's place. Hosea is getting married in a few weeks!

Anna Koska - 26 Oct 2010:
Just to keep you posted. We are in Arusha preparing for our ascent. We've found out that we are the first all mothers womens group to attempt the western breach. Usually they take the women up the shorter less physically demanding route. So that's pretty cool. All for now xxx

Kiliwarrior Expeditions - 26 Oct 2010:
The next trek with Anna, Nicoletta, Clare and Catherine is a charity climb for SafePoint, a UK based charity, established in 2006 by Marc Koska OBE (Anna, Marc's wife is climbing). The purpose of their trek is to raise awareness and funds to donate much needed AD (Auto Disable) syringes to Tanzania. Please read more on... this important, life saving mission here: www.safepointtrust.org

J-A M-R - 24 Oct 2010:
Good Luck to u and all will be thinking of you. Will enjoy the updates. Look forward to hearing all about the trip. So proud of You. Xxxx

Anna Koska - 24 Oct 2010:
Training has at last come to an end.. and I think I'm ready for Kili!

Anna Koska - 23 Oct 2010:
Our good friends at Cocoa Loco have sent us a REAL mountain of chocolate to get us through those highs and lows and regulate our blood sugar (you know how girls are!) during our ascent up that 5892 metre hill. What priceless comfort! Lots of thanks to Rory and Sarah! XXX

Anna Koska - 20 Oct 2010:
Some facts about me: I'm very excited.
I'm extremely fortunate to have a wonderful bevvy of strong happy souls to climb with. I'm honoured to be doing it for Safepoint. I strongly suspect that I will want to climb a bigger one next.

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Mara moja katika maisha, mara nguni ni kifo

2010-10-26T00:49:00.000-07:00

"Once is life, twice is death" in Swahili

FACT: In Africa, 20 million medical injections contaminated with blood from a patient with HIV are administered every year. (Source: Reid 2009) This is a problem so severe that the WHO (World Health Organisation) reports that 50% of all injections given globally are unsafe.

Four committed mums will climb Mount Kilimanjaro for the SafePoint Trust starting their climb on Thursday 28th October for nine days they will experience an example of virtually every ecosystem on earth. On the surface, not an unusual challenge to raise money for a charity; indeed they will blend into 25,000 people who set foot in Tanzania, every year, to climb Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. But the difference about this climb is the girls have one purpose - to give something back to the Tanzanian community.

They celebrate being the first all-mother group to climb the gruelling Western Beach route in support of the SafePoint Trust, a UK-based charity that uses information to solve basic healthcare problems – with a particular focus on unsafe injections. SafePoint runs hard-hitting public awareness campaigns, targeting both healthcare workers and the general public, increasing their knowledge of how to give and receive safe injections. SafePoint also actively lobbies for the change in legislation to using AD (Auto Disable) syringes only (International Standards Organization (ISO) standard AD syringes that can physically only be used once).

Money raised from this climb will benefit Tanzania directly; a substantial donation of AD syringes, compliant with the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA), will be given to the Ministry to distribute and stock hospitals with a life saving product. Allowing the 33,000 healthcare workers that have already been trained to use AD syringes (under the John Snow Inc President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (JSI PEPFAR) project) to do their jobs properly, to save lives, not take them:

"Mara moja katika maisha, mara nguni ni kifo."

Used once is life, used twice is death.

The team of mums climbing have collectively ten children between them and hope that news of their climb and the SafePoint message will spread to all mothers in Tanzania to ensure that they demand for all their children and family members, the following:

A syringe, is always taken from a new sterile packet
Ensure it is used once only on the patient
Then make sure it is safely disposed of in a sharps bin

Live Chat with Marc Koska

2010-10-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

Reboot America chat with Marc Koska, Founder of The SafePoint Trust

held on Tuesday 19th October 2010 and hosted by Joshua Robinson:

Hello everyone and welcome to this afternoon's live chat with Marc Koska. For more than 20 years, he's been working on the problem of unsafe injections throughout the developing world. And today, he's here to answer our questions.

Joshua Robinson:
Welcome Marc, thanks for joining us.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:32 Joshua Robinson
1:32

marc koska:
very welcome
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:32 marc koska
1:33

Joshua Robinson:
In 1997, you patented what is known as an auto-disable syringe, which insures that no needle can be used twice. Can you explain why it is so vital?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:33 Joshua Robinson
1:35

marc koska:
sadly in the developing world syringes are reused. the problem needed a number of solutions but one of them was an economic syringe designed so that it could only be used once. that would stop the transmission resulting from the reuse of many fatal viruses.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:35 marc koska
1:36

Joshua Robinson:
When we last spoke (for this piece on the Daily Beast), you told me about some truly shocking medical practices in the developing world. Could you describe a few of those here?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:36 Joshua Robinson
1:36

marc koska:
the syringe I designed can be made on the same machinery, for the same cost and used in the same way as a normal, plastic syringe.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:36 marc koska
1:37

marc koska:
sure.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:37 marc koska
1:38

marc koska:
in India 62% of all injections given are unsafe, resulting in something like 300,000 deaths a year.
in Pakistan there are not enough syringes in the country for each person yet on average each person receives 14!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:38 marc koska
1:40

marc koska:
bkr's question:
I read a newspaper article in 1984 which predicted syringes as a possible problem and that started me off!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:40 marc koska
1:40

[Comment From bkrbkr: ]
Was there singular, memorable instance (or person) that inspired you to set down the path of creating the auto-disable syringe?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:40 bkr
1:41

[Comment From BenBen: ]
I wonder if you could compare your own success with getting the one-use syringe to catch on in Africa with the less successful campaigns to encourage condom use there. Both measures are important to fighting HIV. Why has the latter lagged?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:41 Ben
1:41

marc koska:
ben's question:
Not an expert but think that condoms are not administered at point of use if you get my point by health professionals. doctors and healthcare workers should know better.. First Do No Harm!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:41 marc koska
1:42

[Comment From Alan TrainAlan Train: ]
Can you talk for a moment about the types of corruption you encountered in the Third World. Aid workers complain all the time about this sort of thing. Where was the "bakshish" resistance and how do you get around it?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:42 Alan Train
1:42

marc koska:
Alan Train: Always refused, and never got involved. Probably slowed us down, but I sleep OK!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:42 marc koska
1:43

Joshua Robinson:
But more generally, it hasn't always been easy dealing with local health officials has it?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:43 Joshua Robinson
1:45

The Daily Beast:
Check out SafePoint Trust's website to learn more.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:45 The Daily Beast
1:45

marc koska:
OK I guess, but they are mostly in very slow systems. we are only trying to help so it is very frustrating to see a solution not applied as fast as it might. that lead me to find other solutions to push through such as media pressure on politicians.

Sonny B: Yes. I was not the first guy to think of this. But all designs before me were immunisation based which is a small (5%) market. Mine was the first one for all injection types.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:45 marc koska
1:46

[Comment From SonnyBSonnyB: ]
Have other syringe manufacturers followed your lead?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:46 SonnyB
1:47

[Comment From JLJL: ]
What are the next innovations you are working on ?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:47 JL
1:47

marc koska:
JL: Better needles for the developed world, less plastic, and innovative ways of functioning during the injection.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:47 marc koska
1:48

[Comment From Guest Guest : ]
What I want to know if how prevelant it was and what sorts of pressures were put on you by those looking to corrupt the system
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:48 Guest
1:49

marc koska:
Guest: It is out there! Cash is King!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:49 marc koska
1:49

[Comment From cb cb : ]
Do they use your syringes in first-world hospitals?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:49 cb
1:50

[Comment From kk kk : ]
Do you consider this your life work? What did you do before you created SafePoint?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:50 kk
1:50

marc koska:
KK: Yes, at least until 50% all of all injections in the developing world are safe.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:50 marc koska
1:51

The Daily Beast:
Hey guys, keep those questions coming and we'll make sure Mr. Koska sees them!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:51 The Daily Beast
1:51

marc koska:
cb: No. Firstly we only target developing world and on the whole the west is pretty good.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:51 marc koska
1:51

[Comment From DR. DDR. D: ]
What is the cost to use your syringes as compared to the old method of reusing? Correct me if I'm wrong but It seems like single-use syringes would cost more overall.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:51 DR. D
1:55

The Daily Beast:
On SafePoint's website check out videos of Mr. Koska and his tireless work to educate and save lives.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:55 The Daily Beast
1:55

marc koska:
Well reusing a syringe 20 times makes each injection a fraction of a penny in cost. The drug however is many times the cost of one syringe. Auto-Disable syringes cost approx 5¢ each. Normal syringes approx 4¢.
The point is that anywhere in the world would we condone the transmission of HIV or Hepatitis for 5¢. Just financially it costs any country thousands of $ per case, without even touching on the human side.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:55 marc koska
1:55

[Comment From CC: ]
Do you have a medical background?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:55 C
1:56

marc koska:
C; product design
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:56 marc koska
1:56

[Comment From cbcb: ]
But I feel like I have seen nurses in modern hospitals using single-use syringes. Has this now become an industry?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:56 cb
1:57

marc koska:
cb: All syringes are disposable. The new design are called Auto-Disable, and can only be used once.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:57 marc koska
1:57

[Comment From KLMKLM: ]
How do you fund this project? Do you have independent fundraisers or do you align yourself with a specific charity?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:57 KLM
1:58

marc koska:
KLM: I fund it through private support.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:58 marc koska
1:58

Were you aware that this was such a global problem?
yes
( 33% )
no
( 33% )
I am now
( 33% )

Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:58
1:58

marc koska:
pls do check out www.marckoska.com and www.safepointtrust.org for more information
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:58 marc koska
1:59

[Comment From Yankee FanYankee Fan: ]
Are needles the end of the road or is the theory the same with all sterilized medical equipment. Ie, what other possibilities are there?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 1:59 Yankee Fan
2:01

marc koska:
Great ?
There are many wonderful concepts and products out there and I want them to succeed.
But for the developing world I fear the technology will not reach economic levels for mass use. Multi tiered world we live in!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:01 marc koska
2:02

[Comment From MikeDoverMikeDover: ]
Whose responsibility is it to use these syringes? The doctor or the patient?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:02 MikeDover
2:02

marc koska:
doctor in theory but in practice it is both plus the Government through supplies and legislation
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:02 marc koska
2:03

Joshua Robinson:
Can you elaborate on the importance of educating patients to ask for new syringes?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:03 Joshua Robinson
2:04

The Daily Beast:
The question is simple: Would you want to get an injection with a clean sterile syringe or a used dirty one? Be a lifesaver.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:04 The Daily Beast
2:06

Should 1st-world countries withhold foreign aid to a developing world country unless basic health principles were in practice?
yes
( 100% )
no
( 0% )

Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:06
2:06

marc koska:
there are many pressures on developing world health systems and the health care worker is "second to God!" So by informing the public we force a standard of behaviour upon both parties.

pls watch "Making the Point" on the film section of www.safepointtrust.org and you can see i tackled this in india.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:06 marc koska
2:07

[Comment From Young DentistYoung Dentist: ]
Are the needles being used in third world dentistry?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:07 Young Dentist
2:08

marc koska:
Yes they are but not enough! However dentists have systems specific to dentistry so not always applicable to use a plastic syringe, due to cartridges and drugs.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:08 marc koska
2:09

Joshua Robinson:
Where have you encountered resistance to the single-use syringes — either from patients, doctors, or governments?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:09 Joshua Robinson
2:12

marc koska:
Governments. AD syringes save money as less are used in time as less illness is spread (by doctors!). So it is so unbelievable that the phone isn't ringing with invitations, but I have to call them!
Individuals are sane, and don't wish to be harmed. Governments can't see the wood for the trees!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:12 marc koska
2:13

Joshua Robinson:
You'll be speaking at the Daily Beast's Innovators Summit this week in New Orleans. Can you give us a preview of what you will be talking about?
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:13 Joshua Robinson
2:15

The Daily Beast:
Check up on all the panelists and speakers who will be at TDB's Reboot America Innovator's Summit starting later this week in NOLA.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:15 The Daily Beast
2:15

marc koska:
Well I want to tell my story but stress the future challenges that not only my subject face but many for helping the developing world. I believe there has to be a better way of helping speed up the scaling of winning, proven ideas and that has to be connected with open sourcing.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:15 marc koska
2:16

Joshua Robinson:
Thanks for joining us today, Marc. For more information about Marc’s work, be sure to check out www.safepointtrust.org and www.marckoska.com.
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:16 Joshua Robinson
2:16

marc koska:
pleasure
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:16 marc koska
2:17

The Daily Beast:
Join the conversation on Reboot America's Facebook & Twitter!
http://twitter.com/rebootamerica
http://www.facebook.com/rebootamerica
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:17 The Daily Beast
2:18

The Daily Beast:
Thank you to everyone who joined us today. And many thanks to Marc Koska! Stay tuned for more TDB Live Chats in the near future!
Tuesday October 19, 2010 2:18 The Daily Beast
2:19

Taken from The Daily Beast

How to Save a Million Lives

2010-10-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

by Joshua Robinson

A lack of a college degree or any engineering training didn’t stop Marc Koska, a speaker at The Daily Beast’s upcoming Reboot America conference, from seeing a problem—millions dying from reused needles—and doing something about it.

Marc Koska had always wanted to dig up one great idea, one major strategy for helping people in a global way. He didn’t know what it would look like or where it would come from. Like any cloud-headed student or barstool idealist, he just wanted to change the world.

Marc Koska

For the first 23 years of his life, Koska didn’t look around especially hard. The day after he graduated from the prestigious Stowe School in Buckingham, England, already set to forgo college, Koska became a garbage man. Just to pick up some money through the summer, not because of any calling in public sanitation. When he’d had enough of collecting trash, he looked at his options again and thought, “Well, I could go do something normal, which wasn’t really me. Or I could follow my nose and get on a train first.”

He chose the latter. For the next four years, aimless wandering carried him around the world, at times working on yachts and in ski resorts, until it landed him in front of a newspaper article one day in 1984. “It simply said, ‘One day syringes will be a major cause of the spread of HIV,’” he said in a telephone interview from England. “Sadly, that’s come horrifyingly true. Now we have a situation where, potentially, AIDS is spread as much by medical devices and poor practice as anything else.”

Indeed, unsafe injections are as serious as any epidemic in the developing world. According to a 2009 World Health Organization report, some 40 percent of injections worldwide are given with syringes and needles that are being reused without sterilization, causing an estimated 1.3 million deaths every year. HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C are the main offenders. Educating patients to demand new needles is still a critical issue, as is the prevalence of dangerous medical practices—doctors who convince their patients they are breaking out fresh ones by rustling wrappers under their desks or nurses simply following orders.

“We’re told to,” one nurse in Faridabad, India, told the Times of London in 2009. “They tell us to use the syringes sometimes two times, three times, 10 times. I have seen them reused 30 or 40 times.”

“They are accustomed like this,” she added, referring to the doctors at her hospital. “They have practiced this way always, and they will continue. It may be they think if they reuse [syringes] they will save money.”

But the problem does not only stem from the economic interests of health-care providers.

"In developing countries, people go see the doctor and you can't get them out unless you give them an injection," said Dr. Ernest Drucker, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's School of Public Health. He cited a study dating as far back as the 1960s that showed that 80 percent of households in Uganda had a syringe, adding, "They feel like they haven't been treated if they don't get an injection. 'Magic shots,' they call them."

A syringe and needles in an Indian hospital, waiting to be reused

It is with these conditions unfolding throughout the developing world, that the idea Koska had been looking for began to crystallize 26 years ago. And by 1997, it turned into a patent for one of the first auto-disable syringes that also worked for curative injections. The name may sound complicated, but the idea is beautifully simple. How do you make sure people don’t use syringes twice? Make them impossible to refill. The K1, as Koska dubbed it, is equipped with a locking ring in the bottom of the barrel, so that when the plunger is fully depressed it stays there. Trying to pull the plunger back would snap the ring and effectively break the syringe.

The K1 model is not the only auto-disable syringe out there. When he first started working on it, there were more than 250 other patents around, and by the time he registered his, that number had grown to about 1,000. Of those, however, Koska says only about 20 had been made into prototypes and all of them were designed specifically for the small doses used in immunization. His design was also suitable for curative purposes, meaning the K1 could handle a whole range of doses.

Ultimately, it was a low-tech solution in a medical environment that is growing ever more expensive and sophisticated. Koska’s answer wasn’t a revolutionary apparatus, it was a small adjustment to existing technology with potentially massive impact. Not to mention a price tag for the developing world—K1 syringes sell for 5 cents, while many others go for as much as a $1 apiece.

“I always understood that what I was doing when I first came up with the design concept was going backward against the stream of thought,” says Koska. “The 270-odd patents, even 25 years ago, were all more complicated. I realized that none of them were going to get off the ground, because they were over-engineered. And over-engineering costs money to produce. I deliberately went to the simple end of the spectrum.”

Before he could even begin considering a design, Koska had to figure out exactly what he was dealing with. All he had in 1984 was a high-school science background and a newspaper clipping. So he spent over two years traveling, reading, and pestering anyone he could find who knew something about public health and had the technical know-how to help him. “I don’t think I even took any notes,” he says. “I just kept asking questions. I’d end up at the World Health Organization and ask them 20 questions about a trip I’d just taken to Kenya and watching immunization campaigns,” Koska says. “It was very random. But it built up a picture for me.”

Seventeen years after the idea first dawned on him, Koska sold his first syringe.

During that time, his efforts to popularize it did not make him any friends. Rival manufacturers, Koska suspects, were not especially pleased with his crashing the market. His first licensee in the developing world was suddenly and mysteriously bought out by an anonymous party and then bulldozed to the ground. Another factory in India simply failed to sell any. Finally, in late 2001, UNICEF placed an order. And soon after, he saw one of his syringes being used for the first time in Cambodia. (UNICEF has since made it a requirement of its campaigns to only use auto-disable syringes.)

Today, Koska runs Star Syringe, the company that owns his patents, alongside a nonprofit called Safe Point, which he started in 2006 for lobbying and education. His licensees are on the verge of selling their 2 billionth unit. Production is up to about 2 million a day, giving Star Syringe a 1 to 2 percent market share of all the syringes manufactured around the world, auto-disable and standard.

But beyond the worldwide numbers, Koska says that the real effect can be seen in places like the hospital in Tanzania, where the average stay has plummeted from seven days to three.

The only change it made was switching syringes.

Taken from The Daily Beast
.

SafePoint's website has been completely redesigned

2010-10-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hope you like it....

Women take on Kilimanjaro for charity

2010-10-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

A WOMAN from Henley is hoping to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to help the health of the country’s people.

Catherine English, of Cromwell Road, and three other women will be raising money for SafePoint, a charity that is trying to start a safe injection healthcare programme by donating two million sterile disposable syringes.

The charity was founded by Marc Koska, who is married to one of the other women taking part and does business with Mrs English’s husband Nick, a Bremont watchmaker.

Mrs English said she jumped at the chance to become involved in the climb later this month when another woman dropped out. She said: “As well as climbing the mountain, we will be visiting schools, orphanages and hospitals to educate children, nurses and teachers in safe and sterile injections.

“Unsafe injections can lead to HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and malaria and the Tanzania campaign aims to ease the burden of these diseases.

“A syringe costs just 7p. The simple message is ‘one injection — one syringe’.”

Mrs English, who has three children, Elodie, three, and twins Euan and Capucine, five, who attend Trinity school in Henley, will be climbing with Anna Koska, Clare Beale and Nicoletta Lacobacci, all from East Sussex. She has been training five or six times a week and meeting the other women once a month to do a big climb or walk.

She said: “We were advised to start working on our upper leg strength, back strength and core stability. We’ve been walking and cycling up hills and generally bulking up our legs.”

The women hope to raise between £10,000 and £20,000 for the K1 syringes, which were invented by Mr Koska.

One way of raising money is by “selling” flags to be taken to the top of the 19,334ft volanic mountain and photographed with the quartet.

To make a donation, visit http://www.justgiving.com/TheClimb-Tanzania2010

Taken from the Henley Standard

Local charity SafePoint to scale dizzy heights in October

2010-10-13T02:34:00.001-07:00

Training hard in the Ashdown Forest

Four brave mums from the Crowborough and Uckfield area are flying out to tackle the daunting challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this October to raise funds for the SafePoint Trust which is based in the heart of Ashdown Forest.

The SafePoint Trust is a charity set up to tackle the global problem of syringe re-use, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) credits with killing millions of otherwise healthy people each year. Unclean syringes are used repeatedly in surgeries and clinics in developing countries to administer vaccines and medicines. This is either to save costs, or because the doctor is unaware of the severe health implications this practice can have, as dirty needles can quickly and easily pass lethal diseases like Hepatitis and HIV.

The SafePoint Trust has single-handedly saved nearly 10 million lives through campaigning for safe injection practices in countries across the world, including India and Africa.

This climb will raise money to supply single-use needles to Tanzania, and will be attempted by Anna Koska, Clare Beale, Catherine English and Nicoletta Lacobacci. Good luck girls!

To find out more, or to make a gratefully received donation, please click here.

Taken from crowboroughpeople.co.uk, written by Rebecca_H

Marc Koska at Google Zeitgeist

2010-10-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

'Google Zeitgeist 2010: Catalyst' by AlphachimpStudio (Peter Durand)

Source: Flickr.com (some rights reserved)

Marc spent an inspiring two days at Google Zeitgeist last month in Phoenix, Arizona.

He was invited to participate in an interesting panel discussion entitled, "Catalyst". Full-on discussions took place on: how some leaders are able to set off a chain reaction and how others can bring so much attention to new ideas and initiatives.

Zeitgeist invites the leading thinkers of our time to join together to explore ideas and debates on topics that influence not only the global economy, but also creativity, technology, leadership and human rights.

Here's Marc’s section on the panel:

Zeitgeist-US Catalyst from SafePoint Trust on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/15431465

Watch the full version here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Mx7SeEwpM
.

The Climb Tanzania 2010: our High Altitude Health Assessments

2010-09-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Dr Jack Kreindler at 76 Harley Street, offered to give us a specialised High Altitude Assessment session to see whether we're up to the climb, both aerobically and anaerobically.

76 Harley Street is the most incredible and unique set up geared towards every aspect of personal health possible. One arm of that is one specifically geared towards the research and betterment of human performance, which is where we come in.

We were briefed on key aspects of the ascent by Jack Kreindler and tested by Jim Pate. We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience (in as much as anybody can whilst sitting on a bike wired up, gagged and going nowhere!) The experience was both fascinating and hideous and ended with us feeling happily capable but ravenously hungry.

We all now have a much clearer picture of what to expect and are all working hard to develop thighs like a prop forward, and eating for England.. well Tanzania actually.

Jim Pate, with Clare, assessing Nicoletta's performance

Nicoletta, the Italian Dynamo!

Clare, before kick-off

Me, wired up and gagged, and ready to go!

Catherine, setting the pace!

We are all very grateful to Jack Kreindler and Jim Pate of 76 Harley Street for the enormous support they have given SafePoint's Climb Tanzania 2010. By putting us through an incredibly thorough health assessment, it has enabled us to properly prepare for this infamously gruelling climb. So a big thank you to everyone at 76 Harley Street.

Anna x

About 76 Harley Street

76 Harley Street was established to set new standards in personalised medical and dental specialty care, diagnostics, screening and enhanced recovery - to prognose, prevent or get the very best outcomes. Their expertise now extends into coaching, human performance sciences, life-support / survival skills and high altitude pursuits for health promotion.

http://www.76harleystreet.com
.

Marc Koska's Mission

2010-09-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Author: Lukas Kubina

Marc Koska

Marc Koska OBE has worked tirelessly over the last 25 years on Global Healthcare. He invented an AD (Auto Disable) syringe called K1 that prevents reuse. Technically, a valve - which breaks after the single usage - is moulded in the plunger. This very easy and cheap modification makes an accidental or abusive reuse physically impossible. The product costs are at about 5 cents apiece - the average price of a normal syringe.

Marc and the K1 have been credited with saving in excess of Nine Million lives and his invention is licensed by 14 manufacturers around the developing world. All Marc's energy is now put into lobbying for legislation change with his charity The SafePoint Trust - delivering hard-hitting safe injection campaigns.

Now, the DLD friend is launching the LifeSaver campaign that is inviting all global AD syringe manufacturers to include the new LifeSaver logo and message "New Packet. Used Once. Safely Disposed" on all their packaging.The logo is distinctive and easily recognized, and will act as a unique guarantee of a safe injection.

For more information on Marc go to marckoska.com and watch his mission statement in the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-bJpkvSo_k

What is DLD?

DLD is an inspiring community for the 21st century which features digital innovation, science and culture and brings together thought leaders, creators, entrepreneurs and investors from Europe, the Middle-East, the Americas and Asia.

DLD (Digital - Life - Design) is a three-day experience gathering 800 entrepreneurs, investors, philantropists, scientists, artists and creative minds from all over the world. With global diversity in attendees and an interdisciplinary perspective of digital, media, design, art, science, brands, consumers and society, the conference is known as the European forum for the "creative class".

Taken from DLD-Conference.com

In case you didn't know...

2010-09-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

Anna Koska

Dear all,

In case you didn't know, I'm due to fly out on 25th October to Tanzania.... to climb that big volcano they've got there!

I'm not doing it for fun (it's cold up there!); I'm actually doing it, along with three other women, in the name of SafePoint.

SafePoint is a charity that was set up with the purpose of educating the next generation in safe healthcare. This is done by delivering hard-hitting public awareness campaigns. We've done this to huge effect in India in 2008, resulting (in April 2009) with the Health Minister mandating the use of Auto Disable syringes throughout all government-run hospitals.

To date, Safepoint is credited with saving well over 9 million lives!

Clare Beale, Catherine English, Ginny Simpson and Anna Koska

Why Tanzania?

Tanzania is at the forefront of safe healthcare in Africa and is one of only two countries that has converted to Auto Disable syringes in the ECSA Region (Eastern, Central and Southern Africa). With their policy already in place, trained healthcare workers and a public information film (donated by SafePoint), they are ready to reduce country medical costs and ease the HIV / Hepatitis disease burden.

We're climbing this mountain to kick off Phase 1 of this new campaign. We'll be visiting schools, orphanages and hospitals to talk to children, teachers and nurses alike... getting the simple message across: "One injection - One syringe" and donating syringes to kickstart their participation.

Some facts and figures on unsafe healthcare:

Each and every year, due to unsafe injections, there are:

23,000 HIV Infections
1,000,000 Hepatitis C Infections
21,000,000 Hepatitis B Infections
RESULTING IN 1,300,000 DEATHS EACH YEAR (Source: WHO World Health Organisation)
Some 17 billion injections are given each year, and 7 billion of these are unsafe medical injections (Source: Hutin 2003)
Malaria kills 1,000,000 - so this silent epidemic kills more people each year (Source: WHO World Health Organisation)
In Africa 20 million medical injections contaminated with blood from a patient with HIV are administered every year (Source: Reid 2009)
At least 50% of injections given were unsafe (Source: WHO World Health Organisation)
A syringe is used on average 7 times in the developing world
Every 24 seconds a child dies as a result of an unsafe injection

If you feel you'd like to support me in raising money for this campaign, I'd be delighted! Just click here: http://www.justgiving.com/TheClimb-Tanzania2010

Thank you so very much for your help on this,

Anna x

PS For more information, check out this short video that was made regarding Tanzania:

Before&After Tanzania from SafePoint Trust on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/12771304

Have you ever witnessed an unsafe injection?

2010-08-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

The problem of unsafe injections, where syringes are re-used on patients by doctors and other healthcare workers, is not just an issue of the developing world; it's global and is needlessly killing 1.3 million people every year.

Some used needles and a syringe, ready to be used again

Here's an excerpt from Marc Koska's DLD talk on this subject in February 2010:

"The re-use of syringes kills 1.3 million people by transmitting viruses from one patient to another. It actually results in also 23 million cases of Hepatitis B and you can imagine the cost of treating that on a global scale, and that’s a cumulative number; 23 million cases every single year. Syringes on average are used around 4 times in the developing world and it's just unacceptable, so I decided to do something about it. In fact it kills more people than malaria, which currently kills about 1 million a year."

Very recently, a dentist in the UK was caught reusing his syringes (to cut costs), as was a New York Anesthesiologist - so you can see that this is also a problem in the West.

No matter where you are in the world, if you witness a healthcare worker giving an unsafe injection (where the needle and/or syringe - rather than being taken out of a new sterile pack - has already been used on another patient), we want to know about it.

Please contact us (in complete confidence - we will not reveal your identity to anyone) via info@safepointtrust.org and let us have as many details as possible; when it happened: where it happened; name of healthcare worker; name of patient and anything else you think we ought to know. We will investigate it and do everything we can to prevent it from happening to anyone else.
.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough!

2010-08-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

4 mums climb Kilimanjaro to get 2m syringes donated to Tanzania

Clare Beale, Catherine English, Ginny Simpson and Anna Koska

Four brave mums are aiming high for SafePoint - they plan to climb Kilimanjaro at the end of October raising enough money to donate 2 Million AD syringes to Tanzania.

Marc Koska launched the Climb with the help of David Downard from Mountain Range Restaurants back in May and since then, offers of support have been overwhelming.

Flags will accompany the mums on the climb and are being sold for £5,000. One flag will protect 35,000 people against unsafe healthcare.

For more information or to download a sponsorship pack, email: info@safepointtrust.org

Watch the girls in training: click here.

Spread the word and forward this film

2010-08-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

We make no apologies for immediately asking you to do one small thing upon reading this blog post.

Your support is invaluable in helping us bring to light the devastating consequences that unsafe injection practices can have.

Please take two minutes out of your day and click here (www.lifesaveraction.org) to see the most recent film Marc has made on the issue of injection safety.

Safe Injection Message

Click here to Comment on this video, and Favourite, Rate and Share it in YouTube

In it, you'll hear how fatal diseases like HIV and Hepatitis are most often spread by unsafe injections and by the everyday actions of heatlhcare workers in millions of under funded clinics in developing countries.

We would ask you please to watch the film, and then forward the link to as many friends and family as you can.

We know from our work over the past 25 years that awareness prompts action.

We're aiming to reach our target of 10 million lives saved this year, and we need your help to do so.

Thank you!

What is LifeSaver?

LifeSaver is a campaign that is inviting all global AD (auto-disable) syringe manufacturers to include the new LifeSaver logo and message "New Packet. Used Once. Safely Disposed" on all their packaging. LifeSaver represents the procedure given by a health worker and received by a patient, and can be simply adopted, free of charge, by any organisation. The logo is distinctive and easily recognized, and will act as a unique guarantee of a safe injection.

For more information, see www.marckoska.com.

Syringe re-use: not just a developing world problem - it's a global problem

2010-08-10T02:27:00.000-07:00

A UK dentist in south Yorkshire reused his old syringes on patients

Dentist: Mohammed Siddiqui

Excerpt from From The Star newspaper:

A SOUTH Yorkshire dentist put patients at risk of deadly infection by reusing syringes, not wearing gloves and using rusty tools and filthy rags.

Mohammed Siddiqui, aged 37, from High Green, faces being struck off after he flouted hygiene rules to "maximise profit" at his Rotherham practice.

A Primary Health Lists appeal tribunal heard he reused disposable equipment, including syringes, files and impression trays, had rusty tools and "actively discouraged" the use of gloves.

Sterilising equipment was "caked" in grime and mouth wash cups were next to the waste disposal system. Surfaces were thick with dust.

Inspectors found he had no blood spillage kit or policy, his decontamination area was "not fit for purpose" and had filthy rags and scrubbing brushes.

Andrew Hockton, for Rotherham PCT, said Siddiqui was cutting corners to save money. The PCT and the Health Protection Agency is probing whether patients caught viruses.

Mr Hockton said: "Dr Siddiqui showed a total lack of regard for patient or staff safety. The inspector said it was one of the worst examples she had ever seen.

"He desired to maximise profit in a manner which put patients at risk."

Mr Siddiqui, of Reaper Crescent, High Green, set up the business on Doncaster Road, Dalton, in 2002. He was shut down after an inspection in May last year.

Siddiqui had received a letter from the PCT in April saying his practice needed a "deep clean". He removed out-of-date stock before the inspection, failed to co-operate during it and later tried to create the impression his staff were to blame.

Mr Hockton said: "He showed a wilful disregard of the principles of good dental practice and he accepts serious professional misconduct. We say that the only appropriate action is removal."

Excerpt from dentistry.co.uk:

A dentist based in Dalton, Rotherham, faces being struck off after an inspection uncovered poor infection control practise and the reuse of single-use equipment, including syringes, files and impression trays.

Mohammed Siddiqui was immediately suspended from the NHS Rotherham dental performers list after former staff raised issues about his infection control standards in 2009, prompting NHS Rotherham and the Health and Safety Executive to conduct an unannounced inspection in May 2009. This means he is not allowed to practise NHS dentistry in Rotherham.

Andrew Hockton, for Rotherham PCT, said Siddiqui was cutting corners to save money. The PCT and the Health Protection Agency is probing whether patients caught viruses.

Further reading:

State conducts surprise inspection of UW Hospital after syringe incident

NY Anesthesiologist Uses Syringes Twice! Hepatitis Found

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Keep up with Marc and SafePoint on Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube and Facebook

2010-08-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

Join the SafePoint team online and receive all of Marc’s updates as and when they happen.

He and his colleagues are busily tweeting at twitter.com/marckoska and twitter.com/safepointtrust, plus two recently launched SafePoint video channels on Vimeo and YouTube. These are yet more outlets for all of Safepoint's powerful video footage (including a shocking undercover film of needle re-use captured in hospitals) and will continually evolve, so make sure you visit regularly.

If Facebook is more your thing, then connect with Marc here and with SafePoint here.

TV News Report on The Climb Tanzania 2010 (aired 10 July)

2010-07-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Clare Beale, Catherine English, Ginny Simpson and Anna Koska

See the SafePoint team training in the Ashdown Forest, getting ready to take on the challenge of climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in this Meridian TV news report. These four brave mums are climbing to raise funds to donate 2 million auto disable syringes to Tanzania. Tanzania are at the forefront of safe healthcare in Africa, soon to become one of only two countries converted to using AD syringes in the ECSA Region. Tanzania has policy in place, healthcare workers trained and a public information film (in Swahili), donated by SafePoint and waiting to be aired.

A donation of 2 million syringes is the perfect platform from which to kick start this campaign and convert Tanzania to a safe injection country.

If you would like to donate to this cause, you can do so through Just Giving or by contacting SafePoint directly on +44 (0)1825 713722 or info@safepointtrust.org

Thank you in advance.

Aiming High for Charity

2010-07-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

.The Climb Tanzania 2010, as reported in Sussex Life magazine

July 2010 edition of Sussex Life magazine

(Click on the article to enlarge it)
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A Chocolate Bar Named After Marc Koska

2010-07-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

Milk Chocolate Indian Summer - the Koska Bar

For every Koska Bar sold, Cocoaloco
will donate 50p to SafePoint!

(Excerpted from http://www.cocoaloco.co.uk/acatalog/News.html)

"SafePoint are a charity who work predominately in the developing world to educate and promote safe injections. A problem not widely recognised in the UK, unsafe injections from reused syringes and needles are responsible for the death of a child every twenty four seconds, with over twenty three million avoidable infections every year, according to World Health Organisation figures.

As part of their work, SafePoint make dedicated short films for countries or cultural regions that spark reaction, inform and change behaviour. These films are shown on TV and at cinemas to raise awareness and their latest film is supported by the past President Dr Kalam for nationwide distribution, as part of an intensive safe injection campaign in India.

Like many things, it shouldn't happen but it does

Having recently heard Marc Koska, the founder of SafePoint, talking about the horrific reality of the problem of unsafe injections across the world, we felt moved to action.

To help support SafePoint and help raise awareness we have launched a brand new organic and Fairtrade chocolate bar.

To give it its full title, the organic Milk Chocolate Indian Summer - The Koska Bar, is influenced by SafePoint's work, with a balanced blend of spices in a smooth milk chocolate, invoking tastes of India.

For every bar sold we will donate fifty pence to Safepoint and we will be supporting them moving forward, so watch this space for further news."

You can buy the Koska Bar here - price: £4.99

Latest News:

Cocoaloco are now starting to supply the National Trust gift shops in the SE and the Koska Bar will be available at:

Morden Hall
Nymans Gardens
Petworth House
Chartwell

The Climb 2010 Tanzania: Marc and Anna Koska interviewed on BBC Sussex Radio

2010-07-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Click to play

Neil Pringle of BBC Sussex Radio interviewed Marc and Anna Koska about The Climb 2010 Tanzania, live, on 16th June 2010, and here's what they said:

Neil: Three mothers from East Sussex are in training to climb one of the world's highest peaks. We are talking about Kilimanjaro; they are going to do this in the Autumn, raising money for the SafePoint Trust, which is a Sussex-based charity which sends essential medical aid overseas. The organization wants to send two million single-use syringes to Tanzania, a country which has one of the world's poorest populations and the largest with HIV. Now Marc Koska set up the SafePoint Trust, his wife Anna is one of the mums who’s doing the challenge. They are both with me here. Hello!
Anna & Marc: Good morning. Hi.

Neil: Good morning. Now, let's start with you Marc, first of all, then we will hear about Kilimanjaro in just a second. Tell us a little bit of background because you have been raising money for a while haven’t you?

Marc: Yes on the charity side, but I got my background by inventing a syringe 20 odd years ago, which we now manufacture around the world in 14 factories and that company is completely separate to the Trust. But what I noticed, even though we had sold a lot (we’ve sold about two billion over the last decade, and saved many lives no doubt), but what I noticed in travelling was that there was a disconnect. The patients and sometimes the staff didn’t know why they were being supplied with this product. So there was a need to fill that gap with information and that was the purpose of setting up the charity.

Neil: Right, so the safe needle was there, but not everybody knew why it was there. It’s presumably to stop infection, stop needles being used twice and all that sort, but that’s an education thing isn’t it? I mean we know more about these things, strangely in this country than they do where they really need to know.

Marc: Yeah, it’s odd – it’s an imbalance completely, yeah.

Neil: Yeah, interesting. How does one invent a new syringe then?

Marc: Well I was wandering around the world and not really knowing what to do with my life and I was 23 years old. I read a newspaper article back in 1984, which predicted that syringes would be a major transmission route for HIV. Sadly that’s now come horrifyingly true, not just HIV but Hepatitis as well; 23 million cases apparently of Hepatitis are caused every year by the re-use of syringes and, of course, horrifyingly, they are used by doctors and nurses, and that’s where the infection’s coming from.

Neil: Is it just that they don’t have alternatives, or are they unaware as well? I mean it seems almost incredible that a doctor doesn’t know the danger of using, re-using needles!

Marc: Yeah, it’s a really weird question. It’s a great question actually but I’m not really sure what the number one reason is. It's usually predicated by no supplies or lack of supplies which then lead them to re-use sometimes, which then gets them into a habit, and the patients don’t object. But you know it's actually true, in Africa, in most African countries, when you go for an injection, you expect to feel a bit queasy for a couple of days afterwards which is sort of a mild septicemia.

Neil: Wow, so having got this on your travels, you thought, 'Well I must see if I can do something about this'. I mean that’s, I have to say – I have to say when I was reading about this last night, I said to my wife, I said there are some very amazing people on the planet. What do we do? What do we do apart from watch football, clean the house? Meanwhile, there are people who are saving lives and I, you know I hope you don’t take your lives for granted because you must have touched so many people's lives.

Marc: Thank you.

Neil: You know, and you’re the second OBE on the program today as well!

Marc: Oh, good.

Neil: The first one was a horror writer by the way.

Marc: Oh yeah.

Neil: He was a good man as well.

Marc: Oh yeah – James Herbert.

Neil: Absolutely. Anna, now was this your idea or did he say, go on climb Kilimanjaro because I need the money?

Anna: "Darling, pay the school fees". No it wasn’t like that. Marc came back from a conference in America and there was an amazing lady who said I’m going to climb (she’s Italian by the way – my Italian accent may turn Scottish – so maybe I shouldn’t bother).

Neil: We like it!

Anna: She said, "I going to climb a mountain. I climb Kilimanjaro. I want to give money to SafePoint." So he came back with this amazing story and I thought, 'Do you know, this might be my opportunity'. There’s a few of my friends and myself who have been watching what SafePoint’s been up to and, for a long time, thinking what we can do to be involved and in order to sort of give back to the system as it were. And this seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.

Neil: Hmm, yes – I’ve heard from people who’ve been up Kilimanjaro before. There’s a lot of altitude sickness involved.

Anna: Yes, yes.

Neil: You know, it’s quite high up, are you ready for that?

Anna: I don’t know if you can ever be ready. I have been told by a number of people it doesn’t matter how fit you are, if it grabs you, it grabs you. So we are talking to a few specialists in altitude sickness and how to sort of acclimatize, and hopefully they can give us a few hints and tips, you know?

Neil: See, when they do Everest, they go up and down it a few times don’t they?

Anna: Yes.

Neil: I can't imagine you would want to do that, you’d say ‘To hell with it, let's just have the sickness – bring it on’.

Anna: No.

Neil: It can be very unpleasant – anyway it’s all for a tremendous cause.

Anna: It is, it is, yes.

Neil: Do you have much time? You sound a busy couple, do you have much time for family and all that sort of stuff?

Anna: We do. It’s amazing - we can squeeze it all in.

Neil: You squeeze it all in. I’m in awe, I’m in awe! What’s the family like then (size)?

Anna: We’ve got three kids, three dogs, four chickens, two cats – and they are all family you understand?

Neil: Which is tremendous stuff. Um now then, when do you actually do the trip then?

Anna: We take off on 26th October. We start climbing around, I think, 28th October and it takes approximately 6 to 7 days to actually reach the summit.

Neil: Well it would be amazing to follow that trip. I don’t know whether you’ve got room in your rucksack for one of our BBC tape recorders, very light things these days. Maybe we could get you to take one of those up and do a little diary for us on the way?

Anna: That’s a great idea – we could do that.

Marc: The idea is that when the girls have summited, they go straight back down to sea level. 1) because they will want to, and secondly….

Anna: ...and have a shower!

Marc: The image is that, or the ideal is that we have a container, one of these 40ft sea containers on the dock in Dar Es Salaam, which we hand over to the ministry with 2 million syringes in, which is obviously what we want to raise the money for. And we’ve set out a little program which we would be happy to explain to anyone, where, with a donation, we want to give a package back, especially on a corporate level if anyone would like to help us whereby we can, for their donation, we can give them a lot of PR and a lot of exposure on websites and in newspapers. And we’ve got some national coverage already agreed, so you know, we hope that that will balance it out and their support can be rewarded with good PR and exposure.

Neil: OK, so it's not just an individual thing; this is a 'corporate opportunity' as they say!

Anna: It is, it is.

Marc: Well we hope so.

Neil: Well, let's point people in the right direction if they want to find out more -SafePointTrust.org is the website or you can call this number: 01825 713 722 and we’ll keep those details here at BBC Sussex. Good luck to both of you, thank you.

Anna: Thank you very much.

Neil: And we will follow it with interest . Cheers!
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SafePoint staff to take on mountain trek

2010-06-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

East Grinstead Courier and Observer, 17 June 2010 edition

TV News Report on The Climb Tanzania 2010 - today!

2010-06-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

Clare Beale, Catherine English, Ginny Simpson and Anna Koska

Meridian ITV recently filmed the 4 girls in their lovely icebreaker outfits, warming up and training on the Ashdown Forest in preparation for their fund-raising trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. Marc and the girls were also interviewed.

The report is expected to be broadcast during today's lunchtime news, 1.30-2.00pm, and again in the evening news, 10.00-10.35pm. [It actually aired on Saturday 10th July]. It's on terrestrial channel 3 if you are in the Meridian region (south east). If you have Sky but are in another part of the UK, you can still get Meridian - it's a little bit fiddly but here are the instructions.

Use of unsterilised, reused syringes still rampant

2010-06-16T04:11:00.000-07:00

The work of Marc Koska, OBE and his charity, SafePoint Trust, was recently featured in an article in The Times of India

PUNE: An average person receives 3 to 5 injections per year, and more than 50 per cent of these are being administered by unsterilised and reused syringes, said Marc Koska, CEO-founder, SafePoint Trust, UK. Koska was in the city to brief mediapersons about the rapid strides his organisation has made to address the biggest man-made threat of re-used syringes.

Although Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss agreed that from April 30, 2009, all Central government hospitals under CGHS will completely switch to auto-disable syringes, complying with the existing ISO standard across all sectors, it remains a Herculean task to achieve the desired objective, said Koska.

"After the successful nation-wide campaign launched in November 2008, the decision to use AD syringes was hailed by one and all. However, the reality is very bitter. India is plagued by its own set of problems. On the one hand, health of the poor population, especially living in slums, are under severe threat as quacks mostly use re-used syringes. Lack of education, unhygienic conditions and poverty contribute to their misery," said Koska.

To read the full article, click here.
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Industrial Design News

2010-06-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

Marc Koska's story featured in a recent blog post of Amsterdam-based industrial design consultancy, Bluelarix Designworks. Here's an excerpt:

Despite the fact many people would imagine something extravagant and expensive, when hearing the word “design”, real design thinking is not about this, we believe. Sometimes we hear, why designing things if everything is already made?

Well this time we would like to introduce to you the story of Marc Koska and his reasons to re-invent the syringe. Reuse of syringes, all too common in under-funded clinics, kills 1.3 million each year. Many of them kids. 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, went to Geneva to learn about Public Health Policy, visited several syringe factories, studied plastic injection moulding, and read everything available on the transmission of viruses like HIV.

Click here for the full article.
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The Climb Tanzania 2010 is launched

2010-06-09T05:48:00.000-07:00

On 26th May, The Climb Tanzania 2010 was launched in conjunction with Mountain Range Restaurants' 5th anniversary celebrations at The Swan in Forest Row.

Photos by Hy Money. See also Hy Money's photos on Facebook.

Background

Marc Koska OBE has worked tirelessly over the last 25 years on Global Healthcare with a particular focus on Injection Safety. After spending years researching the syringe industry, Marc invented an AD (Auto Disable) syringe, the K1 - that physically prevents re-use. To-date Marc and the K1 have been credited with saving well over 9 Million lives but Marc knew from the start that product alone would not stop this silent epidemic, so Marc set up The SafePoint Trust in 2006. The main purpose of SafePoint is to use information to solve this very basic healthcare need, and this is done by delivering hard-hitting public awareness campaigns. Marc and SafePoint work hard to ensure that the public are educated with this lifesaving message, coupled with extensive lobbying for legislation change at ministerial level ensures that this basic human right is restored.

Outline

Marc Koska OBE and The SafePoint Trust would like to invite you to support them on:

The Climb 2010 Kilimanjaro, Tanzania - Rising 4800m above the East African plains, 270km from the shores of the Indian Ocean and measuring up to 40km across, Kilimanjaro is a bizarre geological oddity, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world and one formed, shaped, eroded and scarred by the twin forces of fire and ice. It is actually a volcano, or rather three volcanoes, with the two main peaks, Kibo and Mawenzi, the summits of two of those volcanoes.

Five team members will climb the mountain armed with 20 flags – each flag will be fully branded with a logo from each sponsor. Day seven will see them at the peak of the mountain, at this point a photographer will ensure each flag is photographed capturing the stunning view and the euphoric atmosphere of the team.

On the teamʼs return the UK sponsors will get a framed glossy photograph of their flag at the peak. Along with this your company will feature heavily in all publicity around the event including a press release, national and regional newspapers, regional TV and radio stations and leading business / lifestyle magazines. The whole event will be posted on facebook, twitter and will have its own blog. Sponsors can also make their logo available to feature on the kit of the climbers.

A one-off donation of £5,000 to buy a flag is all that is required and 90% of this donation / sponsorship money will enable us to give Two Million syringes to Tanzania. SafePoint will present the container of syringes to the Hon Prof. David Mwakyusam, Heath Minister of Tanzania once they have finished the climb.

Why Tanzania?

Tanzania are at the forefront of safe healthcare in Africa, they are to become one of only two countries converted to using AD syringes in the ECSA Region. With their policy already in place, trained healthcare workers and a public information film donated by SafePoint they are ready to reduce country medical costs and ease the HIV / Hepatitis disease burden. More importantly with this donation we will ensure they have enough product to stock the 26 regions at the start of this initiative.

Facts and figures on unsafe healthcare:

• Each and every year due to unsafe injections there are:
• 23,000 HIV Infections
• 1,000,000 Hepatitis C Infections
• 21,000,000 Hepatitis B Infections
• RESULTING IN 1,300,000 DEATHS EACH YEAR (Source: WHO World Health Organisation)
• Some 17 billion injections are given each year, and 7 billion of these are unsafe medical injections (Source: Hutin 2003)
• Malaria kills 1,000,000 - so this silent epidemic kills more people each year (Source: WHO World Health Organisation)
• In Africa 20 million medical injections contaminated with blood from a patient with HIV are administered every year (Source: Reid 2009)
• At least 50% of injections given were unsafe (Source: WHO World Health Organisation)
• A syringe is used on average 7 times in the developing world
• Every 24 seconds a child dies as a result of an unsafe injection

Marc Koska OBE launches The Climb Tanzania 2010

Further information

Mountain Range Restaurants are supporting The SafePoint Trust on their Climb 2010. Mountain Range also celebrate their five year anniversary this year in conjunction with this SafePoint will send five people to climb Kilimanjaro raising money to donate syringes to Tanzania.

http://www.marckoska.com/
http://www.safepointtrust.org/

You can reach the SafePoint Team on: 01825 713722 or via email: info@safepointtrust.org
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Marc Koska OBE Launches Safe Injection Project at Mountain Range Restaurants’ 5th Anniversary

2010-06-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

Ginny Simpson, Clare Beale, Marc and Anna Koska
(photo by Hy Money)

Mountain Range Restaurants celebrate their 5th Anniversary at The Swan, Forest Row, whilst supporting Marc Koska’s local charity, The SafePoint Trust.

Sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro announced to make Tanzania a safe injection country.

Forest Row, East Sussex - Marc Koska OBE and his charity, The SafePoint Trust, recently launched an exciting new project for Tanzania at The Swan Mountain Range Restaurant in Forest Row during Mountain Range’s 5th anniversary celebrations.

Generously supported by David Downard, Mountain Range Restaurants CEO, guests were warmly invited to congratulate the company for a successful 5 years in business as well as to celebrate Marc Koska’s achievements in global healthcare and to support his charity The SafePoint Trust on their next venture: “The Climb Tanzania 2010”.

A team of three mothers from East Sussex have taken up the challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise enough money (£100,000) to enable The SafePoint Trust to donate 2 million AD (Auto Disable) syringes to Tanzania. This will enable Tanzania to kick start this safe injection healthcare project and so become a safe injection country. They plan to present the donation to Tanzania’s minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof David Mwakyusathe, in person shortly after they finish the climb, which is set to take place at the end of October 2010. It is likely to take about 7 days to reach the summit. The climbers, who will very quickly have to get used to high altitudes, are:

Anna Koska (Marc’s wife and SafePoint Supporter)
Ginny Simpson (SafePoint)
Clare Beale (SafePoint Supporter)

Fund raising

The SafePoint Trust is encouraging local businesses to buy a flag for £5,000 each. All flags will journey up to the summit of 19,365 ft and be photographed with the climbers, capturing their euphoric moment. Those businesses which buy flags will of course feature heavily in all publicity that surrounds the climb, since collectively, by donating 2 Million syringes to Tanzania, they will ensure that a total of 700,000 people will receive safe injections.

David Downard with Marc Koska
(photo by Hy Money)

Why Tanzania?

Tanzania is at the forefront of safe healthcare in Africa and is to become one of only two countries converted to using AD syringes in the ECSA Region (Eastern, Central and Southern Africa). With their policy already in place, trained healthcare workers and a public information film produced and donated by SafePoint, the country is ready to reduce its medical costs and ease its HIV/Hepatitis disease burden. More importantly, with this donation in place, Tanzania will have sufficient AD syringes to stock all 26 regions throughout the entire country from the very start of this initiative.

Facts and figures on unsafe healthcare

• Each and every year due to unsafe injections there are:

o 23,000 HIV Infections
o 1,000,000 Hepatitis C Infections
o 21,000,000 Hepatitis B Infections
o Resulting in 1,300,000 deaths each year
(Source: WHO World Health Organisation)

• Some 17 billion medical injections are given each year, and 7 billion of these are unsafe
(Source: Hutin 2003)

• Malaria kills 1,000,000 - so this silent epidemic – unsafe injections - kills even more people each year
(Source: WHO World Health Organisation)

• In Africa, 20 million medical injections, contaminated with blood from a patient with HIV, are administered every year
(Source: Reid 2009)

• At least 50% of injections given, globally, are unsafe
(Source: WHO World Health Organisation)

• A syringe is used on average 7 times in the developing world

• Every 24 seconds, a child dies as a result of an unsafe injection

For more information about Mountain Range Restaurants, visit: http://www.mountainrangerestaurants.co.uk

About Marc Koska OBE and The SafePoint Trust

Marc Koska OBE has worked tirelessly over the last 25 years on global healthcare with a particular focus on injection safety. After spending years researching the syringe industry, Marc invented an AD (Auto Disable) syringe - the K1 - that physically prevents re-use. To date, Marc and the K1 have been credited with saving well over 9 million lives, but Marc knew from the start that product alone would not stop this silent epidemic. So he founded The SafePoint Trust in 2006. The main purpose of SafePoint is to use information to solve this very basic healthcare need. This is done by delivering hard-hitting public awareness campaigns. Marc and SafePoint work hard to ensure that the public are educated with this lifesaving message, coupled with extensive lobbying for legislative changes at ministerial level, to ensure that this basic human right is restored. For more information, visit: http://www.marckoska.com and http://www.safepointtrust.org

For more information, please contact:

Ginny Simpson
SafePoint Trust UK
The Granary
Pippingford
East Sussex
TN22 3HW

+44 (0)1825 713722
info@safepointtrust.org
http://www.safepointtrust.org

Press release submitted by: WorldWidePR.net
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Marc Koska Launches LifeSaver

2010-05-14T03:23:00.000-07:00

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Philanthropist, Social Entrepreneur and inventor, Marc Koska, OBE, launches the LifeSaver campaign:

Click here to Comment on this video, and Favourite, Rate and Share it in YouTube

LifeSaver is a campaign that is inviting all global AD (auto-disable) syringe manufacturers to include the new LifeSaver logo and message:

"New Packet. Used Once. Safely Disposed"

on all their packaging. LifeSaver represents the procedure given by a health worker and received by a patient, and can be simply adopted, free of charge, by any organisation. The logo is distinctive and easily recognized, and will act as a unique guarantee of a safe injection.

Marc Koska: "The question to you is simple: Would you want to have an injection with a clean sterile syringe or a used dirty one? Exactly, and so would everyone else! Please send this video link to as many people as you can so that they become aware of this issue. Please help me get millions of hits recorded on YouTube! Thanks!"

LifeSaverAction now also has a Facebook Page (please Like it) and a Facebook Group (please Join it).

For more information, visit http://www.marckoska.com
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The TEDxProject: Marc Koska - 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe

2010-04-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

by Christian Long

Reflection by Gabriella B.

You’ve been to the hospital, or the clinic before.

Think about it. It was probably immaculately clean, the walls were a neutral, mint green, or pale blue, perhaps, a nice beige. You can smell the antiseptic, and hear hushed muted noises all around.

The crinkle of white paper on examination tables, the ring of the phone from the office. The soft beeping and clicking of expensive machines you barely understand the purpose of. A few people are wandering about the ever frigid halls avoiding nurses and doctors hurrying about authoritatively in crisp white coats or pale blue scrubs. Worried relatives are sitting in plushy chairs leafing through decade old magazines.

Now imagine with me a hot stuffy room. The light is dim through the slightly grimy windows and you can hear the discordant cacophony of the busy street just outside the door. Besides that, the room is full to bursting with sickly people all desperate for a life saving injection, from doctors and nurses who may or may not be trained. It’s dusty and hot, the beds are little more than cots placed in rows to get as many as possible in the already small rooms.

That is what you’d see if you happened to be in any of the poorer sectors of Asia. AIDS and many other viruses are rampant in these areas and are spreading with the help of well meaning doctors and nurses.

How could this be happening? It’s really as simple as a syringe. You know what I’m talking about. You probably have one or two in your kitchen drawers. The issue most developing countries face is that not only are these syringes being reused but there is a business in the collection and repackaging of used syringes.

This places massive risks on a single, life saving shot. Aside from the obvious problem of sanitation there is also the issue of cross contamination of medicines and the side effects of a bad mix.

As Koska explains many of the patients view doctors as ‘next to God’ and trust them to do the right thing. He tells the story of some children in Pakistan whose job is to collect used syringes from the back of hospitals, wash them, repackage them and sell them for more than what a sterilized syringe costs. In china this is even more of a problem. One story of an Indonesian school is particularly appalling of children being given used syringes to play with and then using them to drink from.

So what can be done to prevent the annual death of 1.3 million people due to the reuse of syringes? The answer proved surprisingly simple. As Koska demonstrates the answer was there the entire time, we only needed someone who cared enough about the problem to start acting on the solution.

He has developed a syringe that looks and works just like an ordinary syringe, and is even made in the same machines as ordinary syringes at the same cost. The crucial difference is that his syringes lock in place and break if an attempt at reuse is made.

Simple, no?

So I guess the question we have to ask ourselves now, is why it took 1.3 million deaths for someone to care enough?

Excerpted from:
Marc Koska - 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe

Original TED page with speaker bio, links, comments, etc:
Marc Koska - 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe
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Marc Koska: 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe

2010-04-08T02:54:00.000-07:00

Malaria kills 1 million people a year? Reused syringes kill 1.3 million a year? Holy crap. Those are the sort of numbers that remind me in no uncertain terms that I live in a privileged world.

OK, a few minutes in and I'm convinced this is one of the most terrifying TED talks I've seen.

Sometimes we joke about planned obsolescence, or about items breaking just as they come out of warranty. Marc Koska's one-time-use (enforced) syringes are that, but for the best of reasons. This is the kind of thing that will save lives.

Excerpted from reviewingted.posterous.com

Marc Koska: The Man Who Saved 9 Million Lives

2010-03-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Marc Koska, founder of The SafePoint Trust was interviewed for an article entitled 'Marc Koska: The Man Who Saved 9 Million Lives' in the current issue of Peter Gillham's magazine Organic Connections.

The article starts:
"Unique is a good word to describe Marc Koska. 'Since I was a kid, I always wanted to get involved in a large intervention on a big scale,' he told Organic Connections. 'I was always looking for something. If I had lived 200 years ago, I would have wanted to be the guy who killed all the rats in the Black Death. And I started having that drive when I was about six.'

Organic Connections: Marc Koska: The Man Who Saved 9 Million Lives

Unlike many others, Marc never forgot his dream; as a young adult, he was always on the lookout—and one day he stumbled upon it. 'Years went by and I didn’t really settle into anything because I was still waiting for my big moment,' he recounted. 'Then in May 1984, I read a newspaper article that discussed the fact that reused syringes would be a major transmission route for HIV. That was exactly the bit that I was looking for.' Marc was 23 at the time."

To read the full article visit the Organic Connections website.

For more information on Marc, his life and activities, please visit his website at www.marckoska.com.

For further data on Star Syringes, see their website at www.starsyringe.com.

To learn more about SafePoint Trust, visit www.safepointtrust.org.

The hard-hitting facts about the re-use of syringes

2010-02-22T02:38:00.000-08:00

killing 1.3 million people a year by transmitting viruses from one patient to another

killing more people than malaria, which currently kills about 1 million a year

causing 23 million cases of Hepatitis B a year and, consequently, enormous treatment costs.

syringes, on average, are used around 4 times in the developing world

Source: Marc Koska's DLD10 talk

The World Health Organization message for Injection Safety

Click to enlarge image

Marc Koska's DLD talk, word for word

2010-02-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

Marc Koska at DLD10

Transcript of a talk given by Marc Koska at DLD10 about the transmission of disease through unsafe injections - and the solution to this problem that he invented:

Steffi: Marc Koska, Marc has a special thing; he is devoted to the humanitarian cause for 20 years. He invented of an AD syringe called K1 - physically prevents re-use, but you tell it better.

Marc: Thank you Steffi. Well I’d really like to thank Steffi and her team for the warm welcome and secondly just to fulfill a promise, to mention Gabriella from HP because I did say that I would do that.

I promise, I make you one promise also before I start that this will be the lowest tech presentation that you see today. Everything else has just been in another level compared to where I operate. So here we go.

My subject is the re-use of syringes. The re-use of syringes kills 1.3 million people by transmitting viruses from one patient to another. It actually results in also 23 million cases of Hepatitis B and you can imagine the cost of treating that on a global scale, and that’s a cumulative number; 23 million cases every single year. Syringes on average are used around 4 times in the developing world and it's just unacceptable, so I decided to do something about it. In fact it kills more people than malaria, which currently kills about 1 million a year.

These three children that I met in an orphanage in Delhi sadly all had HIV and two of them have passed away now. They had HIV because they went and got an injection from a doctor that their parents had taken them to and were supervising. But what was the saddest thing is that all three of these were actually orphaned straight afterwards. Their parents gave them away once they became HIV positive, which is a double tragedy.

Re-use is a problem and this scum bag doctor here in India admitted to me that he had actually re-used this syringe 25 times in one day. This footage here shows you some undercover film that we took in a hospital (again in India) where 40 medicines were delivered; you can see them on the tray in the top corner, and 40 medicines were delivered with two syringes only, to the whole floor of that hospital. And in a minute, you’ll see a nurse return (here she comes) back to the tray, which is their station and drop back the syringe, ready to be used on this next patient. And this is happening on an hourly, minute-by-minute basis across India.

These needles are wet and they're ready to be used again. They are not wet in Europe, they are only wet in the developing world because they’ve been washed downstairs and then bought back up. Patients are often given the choice to pick a needle.

Outside hospitals, we find baths created actually to wash the syringes on a wholesale basis. This is the number of barrels and plungers that were in that bath. If you look closely you can see what’s inside them. This lady was burnt in a dowry burning in Pakistan, and when I talked to her, I asked her why she was back because all her burns were all healed, but still with bad disfigurement. She said she was in the hospital to be treated for Hepatitis B. I asked her where she had contracted it, and ironically (she didn’t see the irony), she contracted it in that very room that we were standing in, taking that photograph. Ten years earlier, being treated for the burns and it was something that has just plagued her life.

This syringe maybe is the world record holder. The ink has come off the barrel and that means that it must have been used over a 100 times. There’s recycling and this is a 6 year-old girl, early in the morning in Islamabad, leaving (in Erdu this says health centre), leaving a health centre with a bag from yesterday's work; there’s blood bags, there’s scalpels, there’s syringes and needles in there, and she’s taking them off to be recycled.

There’s a growing market for plastic. Not necessarily for re-use, but also for washing and recycling back into the market. And while they’re doing this, these kids, they bash into each other and they prick themselves. And I took this photograph and I was so utterly ashamed when one boy poked the other boy with a needle and his hand started bleeding and I felt absolutely devastated that I had caused that by being the white man taking the photograph. He said “no, no don’t worry, it happens 5 times a day.” (which it did).

In China, wholesale recycling again and then re-sorting to be sold and actually, just quickly back to Pakistan - this is the boy’s father who was showing me a syringe, and while he was digging it out of the pile of rubbish on the floor he pricked the end of his finger. And very interestingly, he whipped out a box of matches, lit one match and burnt the bead of blood that was on the end of his finger, and assured me that that was absolutely safe now and there was no way that he could be infected with HIV. So you can see the misinformation coming into this scene.

And then there’s misuse. Kids are sold syringes, sadly used syringes, on toy stalls in school, and they use them for water pistols. But what you don’t see is that afterwards, because it’s hot, they use these water pistols to squirt into their mouth and they drink the water, and afterwards you can see that the one that’s closest to you is blood stained, there’s all sorts of rubbish in the other one. So it’s just a bizarre, terrible act that is being perpetrated.

Anyway I followed this route through and we got in a car with the toy seller in it. He took us to where he bought his syringes wholesale, and we found these kids turning these syringes over in the sun to dry them, so that they could be ready for sale as toys. They were unprotected; they had to actually remove all the needles before they prepared them. And here you can see them in the display - there’s tanks and cap pistols and all sort or normal plastic toys and then some bunches of syringes.

So the solution is that we need a safer product. Well I came across this problem 25 years ago. I was a young guy. I was actually looking for a problem like this. It was something that had fascinated me for a long time, the intervention in large diseases, and then when I read a newspaper article which said that one day syringes would be a major cause, I knew instantly that that was what I wanted to do.

So I researched the problem including the new innovations that were out there. But I researched the problem from A to Z. I looked at how plastic was refined, how it was molded into syringes, how they were stored, how they were marketed, how they were distributed. And then what happened to them during and after use, and who regulated these. So I studied this for two and a half years and then was able to come up with the design, which I’m just about to show you.

An informed public, obviously that’s what we need, so that they can back off. Funnily enough there’s no way in the areas that I work if I ask a child if they would re-use, or they would use the toothbrush of their neighbour, they jump back in horror. “No way!”, “That’s disgusting!” And yet they’re subject to the medical abuse. And I think that (this is where I spend most of my time), we need to fight for human rights on this subject. It’s not right that a doctor can trick their patient in this way.

The product, it’s very difficult to show you on screen, is a valve that’s molded into the plunger, and then it breaks afterwards, and I think, if I hold this up here, here we go. This is one of my syringes and it works in exactly the same way as a normal syringe. So you do all the complex or simple procedures and you give the injection. Then after use, if someone wants to re-use this, (either accidently or on purpose) and they try and re-use it, it locks and breaks. And this valve is molded into the plunger during the manufacturing process. It’s very, very easy to make this modification; it’s very cheap and my vision is that every single syringe factory in the world should make this, or something like it and then we can end this situation.

Just a personal photograph. This was the first syringe I ever saw used of my design in Cambodia in 2001 and if you remember, I started the journey 25 years ago in 1984 and it took me 17 and a half years to actually sell the first product, which I sold to UNICEF. And then this was part of a UNICEF program, which I was able to witness, and I cried. It was a lovely moment.

They’re made on existing machinery as I mentioned, not that this is going to make, unless your in injection molding, this is a typical nest for making barrels and that’s exactly the same one that we use so we don’t make any major changes. Our product comes out at about 5 cents, depends on different territories, different volumes but that’s the average price, and that’s actually the average price for a normal syringe. So we aim to match the price exactly. You can’t really make a product like this any cheaper. If we could, we would, I promise you.

But just to put it into perspective, it’s one tenth the price of a soft drink. And believe you me, Coca Cola are in Tanzania, they’re in Cambodia, they’re in India for the indigenous population. They’re not there for the tourist trade. So everyone can afford Coca Cola, therefore everyone can afford a safe injection, it’s just they don’t know they have to.

I wanted to, sort of, take you into one particular area that I focused on last year. I was donated a lot of money from a European donor who allowed me to run a dream. And the dream was to go and run a programme in India. The minister there had always refused to see me. And over the last four years, he had point blank just not answered any communication. And yet during that time they had published the study that 62% of all injections given in India were unsafe. So I had to find a new way of, sort of, tackling that and what better than the largest democratic population in the world. What I was able to do was do 11 trips to India doing research and I was able to talk to lots and lots and lots of public, school children and come up with a message that they all agreed was the reduction of the problem and therefore that they could understand it and everyone could understand it - that was simply that a syringe should come in a sealed packet, and you should see it opened in front of you, after use, it should be broken, (it doesn’t have to be one of mine) - you can snap the plunger on any product. And that thirdly, it had to go into a safety box.

Now obviously, you can’t enforce safety boxes in every country, but it’s the goal. We were very kindly joined in our program by this lady, Kiran Bedi. She’s probably the most well known lady in India. Her voice is very well known, as well as her face and she joined us on this campaign and it resulted in a large scale, 5-day blitz across India. We were able to hold 14 press conferences, we were in 240 newspapers, we bought the media with the money that was donated to 10,500 radio announcements and 5,000 TV announcements and this was, maybe, the largest public health campaign in the world, because in 5 days, we were able to inform 700 million people.

Now the key was, that during this newspaper expose, I got most of the newspapers to run the headline “Minister refuses to meet Syringe Guru”, which of course went straight back to head office and he got really annoyed. A couple of weeks later, I was able to return to Delhi, on my own, privately I went to see him and he gave in and passed a law, which came into effect in April 2009. And now with the adoption of that law, it’s growing daily, we’ve got about 40% now of all public hospitals and clinics across India are using auto disable syringes.

And my final bête noire is the UN. I’m not very well received there, and maybe I just move too fast, or actually do something which hasn’t been researched and written about, so they’re not really my greatest supporters. But never the less, I am now working on UN resolutions in the African union, in the east central and southern African countries, and hopefully one day, in the next couple of years, I would like to have a global resolution for the safety, to protect these people under the banner. Not my banner, or my product, but under the banner that we have developed, which we’ve proposed to the industry - called LifeSaver.

So every syringe gets stamped with this in one colour, and then everyone who uses it knows that it is a quality assurance symbol. 50% of injections are unsafe in the world, as I mentioned. One dollar spent now on safe injections results in a $200 treatment cost, (which is new data) which is just coming out of Tanzania, which is very exciting. Because if we can base this on economy, I think we can move it forward very, very fast.

And just to wrap up, since that 2001, since that first syringe that we sold in Cambodia, we have been able to sell 1.8 billion K1 syringes and that has resulted in about 9 million lives saved - so you can imagine we are very proud.

This is the insanity ladies and gentlemen, and this is what we are trying to stop and I think it comes from safer product, better information and then once we’ve done our job, perhaps the governments will do theirs.

Thank you very much.
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Life-saving Disposable Syringe Makes a Difference to Overseas Healthcare

2010-02-15T03:01:00.000-08:00

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Sectors: Healthcare & Medical

Company Name: Star Syringe

Based in East Sussex, Star Syringe is a medical innovation company that aims to protect people through better, low-cost, sustainably produced, basic healthcare equipment. Their non-reusable syringe K1 AD is extremely cheap and, because it has been designed so that it cannot be re-used, has played a significant role in the fight against the spread of HIV and other diseases in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The syringes are simple to produce and licensed to manufacturers in countries all over the world, including Indonesia and Nigeria.

As a company focused exclusively on export markets where the need for their products is greatest, market intelligence is crucial. Star Syringe has accumulated considerable knowledge about its business, but even experienced exporters can benefit from outside assistance.

In this case, assistance came from Carolyn Bentley and Les Plant, International Trade Advisers with UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) South East. Les’ advice, in particular, is based on wide experience, giving Star Syringe the dual benefit of a trade sector adviser who has specialist knowledge of the healthcare industry from his days in private business.

Marc Koska reports on Star Syringe's success

Star Syringe has also taken advantage of UKTI services such as Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) , which has dovetailed with their own market knowledge. As company founder and director Marc Koska said:

"In the case of Ghana, for which we commissioned an OMIS report, although this was not primary intelligence, it was invaluable in backing up our own market information and confirming courses of action and the correct market approach."

Marc Koska, Director, Star Syringe

On 15 May this year, Star Syringe staged an event supported by UKTI South East, among others, to celebrate the manufacture of one billion K1 AD syringes and the saving of up to five million lives.

In 2006, the company received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category, and was recognised for the development of the K1 with the International Trade Award for Innovation in the 2007 “International Trade Today” awards.

Excerpted from Life-saving Disposable Syringe Makes a Difference to Overseas Healthcare
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Profitnet's keynote speaker: University of Brighton honorary graduate Marc Koska, OBE

2010-02-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

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Excerpted from Reason to Celebrate!

"The evening (21 Jan 2010) also featured an inspiring keynote address from University of Brighton honorary graduate and global entrepreneur, Marc Koska, inventor of the K1, one-use syringe and founder of the Safe Point Trust. He commented:

“Bringing the whole business community together, Profitnet recognise the importance of communication and knowledge. These awards actively celebrate members who have achieved outstanding results.”

Deana Ward, Profitnet Business Development Manager who heads up the team comments on Profitnet’s success:

“The impact of the Profitnet programme and the benefits it has delivered to members is a result of practical collaboration and authentic engagement. Its success demonstrates the valuable role of Profitnet as a bridge between the worlds of academia, enterprise and innovation. This event celebrates all that has been achieved in the last twelve months and looks at how we can continue to support businesses via the programme in the future. ”"
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Marc Koska talks at DLD Conference 2010, Munich

2010-02-12T03:20:00.000-08:00

http://video.dld-conference.com/watch/KWl0UQE?t=dld10%2Cpanels&gal=sessions

Click here for a full transcription of this talk

Marc Koska is on stage now. He really (literally) saved millions of lives.
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:12:15 PM25 January 2010 16:12:15

MK: This will be lowest tech presentation you will see today.
by is at 1/25/2010 4:12:37 PM25 January 2010 16:12:37

MK: This will be the lowest tech presentation of today. It's about syringes.
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:12:48 PM25 January 2010 16:12:48

Misuse of syringes kill more people than malaria
by is at 1/25/2010 4:13:29 PM25 January 2010 16:13:29

Reuse of syringes is a big problem for spread of HIV
by is at 1/25/2010 4:13:46 PM25 January 2010 16:13:46

Some syringes were used more than 25 times. He's going to show some undercover footage.
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:14:24 PM25 January 2010 16:14:24

Patients are often given the choice to pick the needle
by is at 1/25/2010 4:15:09 PM25 January 2010 16:15:09

There are cases of syringes are being used over 100 times
by is at 1/25/2010 4:15:57 PM25 January 2010 16:15:57

Syringes are being recycled.
by is at 1/25/2010 4:16:16 PM25 January 2010 16:16:16

Mostly kids in developing countries are doing the recycling which leads to infection
by is edited by Viki Stahl at 1/25/2010 4:16:49 PM25 January 2010 16:16:49

People are misinformed about the problems with old syringes.
by is at 1/25/2010 4:17:27 PM25 January 2010 16:17:27

Misuse is another problem: Kids use the syringes as water pistols. But they sometimes also use them to shoot water into their mouth even if they're still bloody.
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:18:03 PM25 January 2010 16:18:03

The solution is a safer product!
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:18:40 PM25 January 2010 16:18:40

Marc Koska studied and developed a product that can solve a lot of the problems
by is at 1/25/2010 4:19:54 PM25 January 2010 16:19:54

If people in developing countries can not rely on their doctors to do the right thing, they need to rely in the product to make them safe
by is at 1/25/2010 4:20:39 PM25 January 2010 16:20:39

The syringe is a single use syringe that breaks after used once
by is at 1/25/2010 4:20:56 PM25 January 2010 16:20:56

The goal is to deploy the new syringe as cheaply as the current syringes
by is at 1/25/2010 4:22:15 PM25 January 2010 16:22:15

"everybody can afford Coca Cola, so they can afford a safe injection"
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:22:34 PM25 January 2010 16:22:34

They got about 40% of Indian hospitals to use his non-reusable syringes.
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:25:26 PM25 January 2010 16:25:26

50% of all injections are unsafe
by is at 1/25/2010 4:26:23 PM25 January 2010 16:26:23

Since the first of these syringes were sold hardly ten years ago, 1.8 billion syringes have been sold, saving about 9 million lives.
by Peter Bihr at 1/25/2010 4:27:29 PM25 January 2010 16:27:29

Marc Koska (Safe Point) invented a syringe that wouldn't work a second time, making it impossible to re-use. And thus saved more than nine million lives. Here's the story behind all this.

DLD is an inspiring community for the 21st century which features digital innovation, science and culture and brings together thought leaders, creators, entrepreneurs and investors from Europe, the Middle-East, the Americas and Asia. With global diversity in attendees and an interdisciplinary perspective of digital, media, design, art, science, brands, consumers and society, the conference is known as the European forum for the "creative class".
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Marc Koska is Joint Winner of the Dezeen Applause Award 2009

2010-01-20T12:14:00.001-08:00

Marc Koska,OBE - (Joint) Design Person Most Deserving of Applause 2009

Designers Marc Koska and Studio Makkink & Bey have been awarded joint first place in Dezeen's competition to find the person most deserving of applause for their work in design in 2009, organised in collaboration with Laikingland, makers of the Applause Machine.

On November 30th, 2009, Dezeen - the world's most influential online architecture and design magazine - announced its competition in collaboration with Laikingland - makers of beautifully crafted kinetic objects - to find the person most deserving of applause for their work in design in 2009. The prize: a Laikingland Applause Machine.

Dezeen readers were asked to nominate, by leaving a comment on the Dezeen site, the most important, influential, controversial or simply the most lovely design person of the year. The designer with the most nominations together with the reader who submited the best reason for nominating the winning designer were both promised an Applause Machine as their prize.

Marc Koska OBE with his prize, a Laikingland Applause Machine

Submissions were judged by Marcus Fairs of Dezeen and Applause Machine designer, Martin Smith. The competition closed on December 16th, 2009 and the winners were as follows:

Joint winners of the Design Person Most Deserving of Applause 2009 award: Marc Koska, OBE - designer of the K1 non-reusable auto-disable syringe which saves lives by preventing the transmission of disease; and design studio Studio Makkink & Bey.

Dezeen reader winner was Michael Wigle for the nomination he made for Marc on November 30th, 2009 which is reproduced here:

Marc Koska – The non-reusable K1 auto-disable syringe

As a designer, I see invention and design as a solution to a problem. Sometimes we as designers create a problem, or a set of problems to find a solution to. Then there are the big, real life problems that plague many people from around the planet that us as designers try and find a single solution for. We perpetually complicate the world by not finding answers to overlooked problems in our own quest for fame.

Marc Koska may have designed the most important device no one has ever heard of. His syringe has the ability to save millions of lives and revolutionize medicine for developing AND developed nations. He deserves to be noticed and recognized not only because of his creation, but so his creation can be pushed to the forefront and noticed.

A hypodermic syringe that can only be used once, may save as many people lives as vaccines had once 100 years ago. Please award Marc Koska and help spread the word of his simple, yet powerful design. There are at least 1.3 million people in this world who can stand up and applaud this noble effort.

http://www.ted.com/talks/marc_koska_the_devastating_toll_of_syringe_reuse.html

"Many thanks to everyone who voted for me," said Marc in a tweet.
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Dirty needles and children

2009-12-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

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A bit of common sense

By Gina Barker

What is one of the greatest killers in the world? What spreads disease all across third world countries?

It’s the same product we use every day to prevent and treat disease here in the United States.

The killer is the hypodermic needle. And it is sad that a product of convenience and luxury in one nation means the spread of disease in another. In developing nations and the third world, normal clinical practices include reusing the hypodermic needle so that hundreds of patients might use the same needle over and over again.

Each year 1.3 million people are infected and die from dirty needles. This number now surpasses the total number of malaria deaths in a year. In India alone, two-thirds of injections are using unsafe needles.

Parents in these nations are at risk just for taking their new baby to the local hospital for normal vaccinations. Baby’s first tetanus shot could infect them with hepatitis or HIV. Parents don’t know where that needle came from and didn’t see anyone unwrap it. It’s a safe bet that needle has been in contact with hundreds of patients all day.

Even before that, there is an entire market for digging through the garbage, finding discarded needles, giving them a quick rinse and repackaging them to sell to hospitals. Children in Pakistan can make several cents a day just picking through garbage looking for used syringes, where they are often stabbed hundreds of times just in the process of looking for these needles. That needle dug up in the trash could be the same needle vaccinating a child. Did it carry HIV? It’s a thought most parents don’t even consider because of an over-trust in doctors using western medicine.

A substantial number of “dirty needle deaths” are children. According to SafePoint, a nonprofit organization working to prevent unsafe injections and educate on proper medical care, every 24 seconds a child dies as a result of an unsafe injection. And each of these deaths is easily prevented. In one fell swoop, spreading disease with the reuse of dirty needles could stop completely. Marc Koska is the inventor of the K1 single-shot syringe. The way the syringe works is that once the initial shot is given and the plunger is pushed all the way to the bottom, pulling the syringe back to reload will break the plunger, making it impossible, or at least extremely frustrating, to use a second time. Best part of all this, the syringe uses all the same parts already in use in syringe production and costs just 5 cents.

Avert.org, another nonprofit organization focused on preventing AIDS in Europe, claims Eastern Europe has the world’s fastest growth rate of HIV/AIDS infections, and this is largely due to dirty needles.

In a New York Times article dating from 1990, orphanages in Romania experienced a boom of HIV/AIDS orphans, most presumed infected by sharing needles. This story took years to unfold as the pattern became recognized. AIDS infections created an invisible border between Eastern and Western Europe, the former Soviet and the rest, and this border still exists.

The technology that was meant to save people resulted in the infection and death of millions.

The single-shot syringe is now standardized in several nations. Using any other kind of needle is illegal in some cases, but this is a battle far from seeing the end. Making sure safe injection practices are used in a nation where no standard one-shot system exists means convincing local clinics and hospitals to willingly choose the slightly more expensive syringe.

We’re talking pocket change in America to prevent the deaths of millions around the world. It’s an interesting thought next time you have blood drawn for a test or get the seasonal flu shot that you lucked out. That’s a clean needle in your arm, a fact a majority of the world can’t match.

First published on Weber State University's "The Signpost", 25 Nov 09
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Nikon Owner magazine captures Marc’s work in India

2009-12-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

Single Use - A Modern Morality Tale by Gillian Greenwood, Nikon Owner magazine -

Simon Stafford, Technical Editor of Nikon Owner magazine, accompanied Marc and members of SafePoint for ten days and recounted his experiences via a series of beautifully shot pictures capturing vibrant people and places, but also devastating evidence of needles being re-used.

He saw first-hand harrowing scenes in surgeries and clinics with medical staff throwing blood-stained needles in buckets under counters ready to be used again on many sick and frail members of the public waiting outside. Moving from New Delhi, to Pune and then Jaipur, Simon witnessed Marc and his team delivering their powerful message to the public on the effects that unsafe injections can have.

Marc Koska spreads the word in the US

2009-12-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

Marc Koska of Star Syringe, Ltd, Winner of 2008 Tech Award, Health
photo: godutchbaby

Marc has just returned from an extremely successful trip to the USA, where he was honoured to be invited to three key events:

a Know How Talk at the IDEO Cafe, hosted by Dennis Boyle, IDEO senior partner. IDEO is the world renowned Global Design Consultancy based in Palo Alto, CA. Marc's talk was entitled 'Shameless' (how you have to be, to change something in this world). Discussions after the talk focused on his efforts to save lives through syringe design and his charity SafePoint.

to be a panelist at the ‘Change that Counts: Building Sustainable Social Business’ hosted by Santa Clara University.

The Tech Awards Gala as a past Laureate; Marc was invited to host a live link sponsored by Polycom, between the newest member of the SafePoint team, Kate Thorman, in India, and Fabio Rosa, a Canadian former fellow Laureate..

Founder of The Safepoint Trust, Marc Koska, featured in Wired Magazine

2009-12-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

December issue of Wired UK

Renown for its articles on new ideas, technology, culture and business, Wired Magazine features a profile on Marc in its UK December 2009 issue.

Interviewed and written by Jack Dyson, the article sums up the last 25 years of Marc’s plight.

This is not the first time that Marc has appeared in Wired. In August 2009, the story of how he came to invent the auto disable syringe and set up The Safepoint Trust is told in an article called "One use only: the broken syringe that saves lives" by Katie Scott. And in the US version of Wired, Marc's invention and Safepoint are mentioned in a November 2009 article called "Gadgets and Ideas to Revolutionize Healthcare" by Aaron Rowe.
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Safepoint founder's TED talk shown on CNN site on World AIDS Day

2009-12-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

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Entitled,"The price of saving a life is a few pennies", Marc Koska's TED talk was added to CNN's Opinion site on 1 December 2009, World AIDS Day:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/marc_koska_the_devastating_toll_of_syringe_reuse.html

Reuse of syringes costs an estimated 1.3 million lives a year

Syringes can spread blood-borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis

Low-cost syringes that can be used only once are produced

India has mandated use of auto-disable syringes