A disease long since tamed by modern medicine in the United States, cervical cancer still kills a quarter million women each year in developing nations like Haiti. They just don’t have the machines for detection and treatment, like the colposcope which magnifies the area to locate abnormal cells.
Duke medical doctor David Walmer, visiting Haiti to help renovate a church, was inspired to do something to address the cervical cancer problem.
He came up with an invention now known as the CerviScope. The cheap, portable version of a colposcope is made with items he bought at a camera shop and a local Walmart . The device uses a halogen bike headlamp, a green filter, battery run LEDs, and lenses from a $10 pair of binoculars.
(READ the story in the New York Times)
Story tip from Shannan Heinitz