Engineering World Health
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| Founded | 2001, Memphis, Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Focus | Clinical engineering |
Area served | Global |
| Website | ewh.org |
Engineering World Health (EWH) is a non-profit organization that mobilizes the biomedical engineering community to improve the quality of health care in hospitals and clinics that serve resource-poor communities of the developing world. With this professional expertise, they install donated and newly-designed medical equipment, carry out repairs and build local capacity to manage and maintain the equipment. EWH harnesses the resources of collegiate engineering programs through a network of university-based chapters and contracts with Duke University to manage a summer program that sends student biomedical engineers to developing country hospitals where they repair broken equipment. Founded in 2001 by Robert Malkin and Mohammad Kiani in Memphis, TN, its head office is now located in Durham, NC.
BMET Training Program
Engineering World Health started a biomedical equipment technician (BMET) training program in late 2009 to provide training for 45 technicians in Rwanda. The program was funded by the GE Foundation with the goal of providing enough trained technicians to service every hospital in Rwanda within three years. Thanks to further funding from the GE Foundation, EWH is now expanding its training program to Cambodia, Honduras and Ghana.
Chapters
Engineering World Health has student chapters at 30 engineering schools in 6 countries. They are involved in such activities as design projects for the developing world, biomedical equipment repair and evaluation, and fundraising activities.[1] Chapters may also get involved in the EWH Design Competition whereby a team of engineering students submit a design directed at the needs of developing country health care. The best teams are then rewarded with cash prizes, giving them a chance to implement their device.
Summer Institute
The Summer Institute is a program that allows engineering students to travel to developing countries for two months to serve hospitals with equipment repair and design skills. There is one month of language and technical training followed by one month in a developing world hospital working to implement life-saving solutions. This program has been running since 2004 and sends students to Tanzania, Honduras and Nicaragua each summer.[2]
References
- ^ Jessica Barba, "New engineering club aids in medical practices overseas," Mustang Daily, January 13, 2010.
- ^ Richard Merritt, "Engineering World Health to Expand," Duke Engineering News, December 16, 2008.