Last Updated: 28/11/2025
Implementation of the Millennium Health Microscope: Developing better tools and systems for the surveillance of malaria and the neglected tropical diseases in resource-poor public health sectors in Africa
Objectives
One of the key goals of the Millennium Health Microscope (MHM) application is to do a mass production by mid-2010. Another goal is to validate the unit in a two-year trial in sub-Saharan Africa, where units are seeded and carefully monitored in up to 150 point-of-care clinics. It is hoped that this evaluation trial will encourage the African health sector to adopt this technology for the diagnosis of neglected tropical diseases and malaria in the majority of point-of-care clinics where microscopes are presently absent.
Cambridge Optronics Ltd is a leading exponent in folded optics and small-form microscopes. The company designers have already developed two small field microscopes of low and medium power. One of these designs (the Readiview) was seen by health workers as a potentially pragmatic alternative to the expensive compound microscope in resource-poor settings, especially if its performance could be enhanced to enable blood-film diagnosis of malaria. Encouraged by this concept, the Millennium Health Microscope (MHM) was conceived and is now fully designed, existing in pre-production form. This low-cost microscope measures just 135 x 120 x 48 mm and is capable of magnifying up to 1000 x, with fully integrated lighting being both lightweight and highly compact in form.
Jan 2010 — Jan 2012
$819,576
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