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

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.

Live Chat with Marc Koska

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

Marc Koska's Mission

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

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Ain't No Mountain High Enough!

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.

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

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.

Aiming High for Charity

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

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July 2010 edition of Sussex Life magazine

(Click on the article to enlarge it)
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The Climb 2010 Tanzania: Marc and Anna Koska interviewed on BBC Sussex Radio

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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Use of unsterilised, reused syringes still rampant

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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