First Integrated Point-of-Care Test for Malaria and Anemia

Abstract

Anemia affects more than 2 billion people worldwide, which is about 25% of the world’s population. Anemia has numerous causes ranging from nutritional deficiencies, primary hematologic diseases, and infectious diseases such as malaria. Among the various causes of anemia world-wide, malaria is the 3rd most prevalent cause in Sub-Saharan Africa and the 8th most prevalent cause globally. Anemia and malaria diagnosis/monitoring are challenging in low- and middle-income countries due to lack of laboratory infrastructure and skilled personnel as well as insufficient financial resources. We extended our previously established Gazelle™ malaria detection system to add total hemoglobin quantification and anemia testing capability. The new Gazelle Anemia-Malaria (Gazelle-A&M) is mass-producible at low cost and offers the first and only single point-of-care (POC) test for portable, affordable, and accurate, anemia and malaria diagnosis.