Unsafe injections kill 1.3 million people a year, says former "spoilt brat" Marc Koska, who is on a mission to stop syringe reuse
You are on a mission to stop the reuse of syringes. How big is the problem?
The World Health Organization (WHO) says 1.3 million people die every year because of the reuse of syringes. The burden of disease cost is over $100 billion a year from syringe reuse, which is just mind-blowingly horrific. Twenty-two million cases of hepatitis B are spread every year because of the reuse of syringes. The WHO says one in two injections given is unsafe.
You invented a simple non-reusable syringe, the K1. Where did it all begin?
I read a newspaper article in May 1984 which predicted that syringes would one day be a major cause of the transmission of HIV. It was what I had been waiting for, a project that had a lot of the things that I liked: problem-solving, product design, campaigning, and being a bit of a big mouth pain-in-the-bum.
I grew up in England, went to a nice public school, then didn't want to go to university so I thought I would wander around. I did a season skiing, a bit of sailing, typical spoilt brat stuff. I ended up in the Caribbean. I was having a blast. I was really waiting for this bit of inspiration if you like, and it came in the form of syringes.
How did you go about designing a self-destructing syringe?
Syringes are made in their billions every month around the world, and I realised that until I could go to a manufacturer and say "this is going to add nothing to your manufacturing costs" then I didn't have a hope. That dictated the design. There is a part of the existing moulding process that is easy to change. I designed a mechanical valve into the plunger. After one use the plunger passes a ring inside the barrel. If you try to retract the plunger past that ring it locks. If you use excessive force, the plunger snaps and it can't be used.
Tanzania has just agreed to use only this kind of syringe. Tell me about that.
The Tanzanian government recognised there is a problem: that they don't have enough sterile syringes, that they are being reused probably four or five times each, and that this reuse is a massive contributor to their burden of healthcare.
How did you persuade the Tanzanian officials to switch to non-reusable syringes?
I was anonymously sent a video of a healthcare worker reusing a syringe on three people: a 4-year-old, an adult with HIV and then a 1-year-old baby. I edited that into a short version and was able to show it to the minister, who was appalled.
What's next for your safe syringe campaign?
In 2012 I want to concentrate on east Africa. I want to see Tanzania through, then I want to move on to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. A country like Tanzania is going to go from using 40 million syringes to 200 million. That's going to require them spending about $7 million extra, but is likely to save them $70 million in healthcare costs. But where do they get the $7 million in the first place? My role is also trying to help them find the money.
When this article was first posted, it incorrectly stated that Tanzania had agreed to use only the K1 syringe.
Profile
Marc Koska has worked for 27 years to stop the reuse of syringes. He designed the self-destructing K1 syringe, set up Star Syringe to manufacture it and runs the charity SafePoint, which campaigns against unsafe injections
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