An innovative method of testing for malaria through the urine, called Fyodor, won the top prize of $100,000 at the inaugural Health Innovation Challenge Awards held in Lagos on Wednesday.
The innovator of Fyodor Urine Malaria Test, Eddy Agbo, said the testing method cuts out the unpleasant and expensive traditional method of testing for malaria through blood samples, eradicates self-medication as patients can truly determine the cause of their fever is malaria related.
Explaining how the test works, Victoria Ewenmadu, an official of the company, said all that is needed to test for malaria is just a few drops of a patient’s urine.
“What it does is it test for malaria parasite in the urine. If you have a fever you shed certain protein and this protein is what is tested on this texture. You collect a small sample of urine, you dip the texture into the sample of urine and let it stay for 25 minutes and within 25 minutes it would tell you if you have malaria or not,” she said.
She said there was no special expertise needed to conduct the test as anyone could use the product anywhere and at any time.
Mr Agbo stated that Fyodor is the result of his desire to use science to solve societal problems.
“Growing up in Nigeria and knowing our environment you start to realise some of our major needs. I got to a stage in my life that I began to think of how we can use science to solve some of the major problems in our society. I started thinking about this because I realised the impact it would have in our society.
Mr. Agbo, who is based in the United States, said he has been working on the product for seven years and that Fyodor will become available in pharmacies across Nigeria next week.
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