In Afghanistan, a team of five high school girls is trying to develop an inexpensive artificial respirator as part of the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic. This respirator, made from used car parts, is intended for the care of coronavirus patients.
A cheap respirator made from used car parts is the goal of five high school girls aged 14 to 17 living in Kabul (Afghanistan) and members of a robotics group. With approximately 1,000 cases of Covid-19 (including 33 deaths), the toll in Afghanistan is far from being the most alarming. However, this country strongly impacted by war and poverty faces a significant lack of equipment. Indeed, the country has only 300 respirators for 35 million inhabitants !
Roya Mahboob is the leader of a local tech company sponsoring the project. The interested party interviewed by Arab News on April 10, 2020 indicated that high school girls collaborate with other entities. It is a question of working in concert with local health specialists but also experts from Harvard University (United States). In addition, the prototype developed is based on a design from MIT in Boston.
According to the project leaders, the parts of a Toyota Corolla made it possible to manufacture the prototype. One example is borrowing a mechanical system to operate the breathing bag. For team leader Somaya Farooqi, the hardest part is none other than timing and pumping pressure . Indeed, each patient needs a specific volume and pressure of air and it depends on the age and severity of his case.
Several prototypes are planned and will have to be approved by the Afghan Ministry of Health and especially by the World Health Organization (WHO). If the bet is successful, the team will be able to produce more machines. In any case, the project is economically viable. According to the high school girls, the cost of manufacturing their machine reaches only the equivalent of 275 euros . For comparison, a new standard machine costs a hundred times more.
The girls are from western Afghanistan, specifically from the city of Herat. This city is located on the border with Iran, a country very affected by the Covid-19 epidemic. Thus, Herat recently welcomed tens of thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing this country. However, the number of patients continues to grow there and manufacturing respirators to compensate for the lack seems judicious.
