Dugbeh Nyan Nominated for AIF Prize

Dugbeh Nyan Nominated for AIF Prize

Liberian medical doctor and scientist, Dougbeh Chris Nyan, is among the top ten nominees for the African Innovation Foundation (AIF) Prize for 2017.

A release posted by AIF online indicates that Dr. Nyan represents Liberia among other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, and Uganda.

The AIF includes Dr. Nyan among the nominees for his discoveries in healthcare solutions. He is regarded for developing a new technology for rapid detection of many infectious diseases using only one test.

His profile shows that his discovery of a rapid diagnostic test can detect and simultaneously differentiate at least three to seven infections at the same time within 10 to 40 minutes.

The AIF team is especially interested in Dr. Nyan’s discovery in the healthcare area because it observes that in many African countries, there is a lack of sophisticated diagnostic devices and limited expertise in high-tech diagnostics.

According to AIF, this impedes the clinical decision-making ability of healthcare providers.

“This test provides a solution to this clinical problem, and the innovation is easy to use in any setting and in rural areas,” AIF said.

AIF notes further that the device invented by Dr. Nyan is able to detect and distinguish multiple infections bearing the same symptoms, pointing out cases of yellow fever, malaria, and Ebola as examples.

“Whereas most testing methods take 3-7 days, this device gives test results in 10-40 minutes. This would provide a significant step in the detection and management of infectious diseases on the continent,” AIF noted.

“We are pleased to share with you the names of our IPA2017 nominees as we continue on our mission to catalyze the innovative spirit and unlock untapped potential in Africa.

“For the first time, this year’s nominees include innovators from Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Zimbabwe. Moreover, given the instrumental role African women play in transforming Africa, it is thrilling to see more women among the 10 nominees with game-changing innovations.

“By providing platforms to recognize innovation excellence in Africa and mobilizing for African innovators, we continue to live up to our credo of engaging, inspiring and transforming. The inspiring stories of these nominees remind us that innovation and African-led solutions are indeed the answer to Africa’s growth and prosperity,” said Walter Fust, AIF’s chairman of the Board.

The nominees will be contending for the award in Accra, Ghana on July 18. According to the AIF release, the innovators have demonstrated incredible proficiency through innovative solutions and addressing challenges in agriculture, value chain, healthcare, energy, communications, service industries, as well as surveillance using drone technology.

The African Innovation Foundation is celebrating its sixth-year Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) under the theme, “African Innovation: Investing in Prosperity.”

IPA is the premier innovation initiative on the African continent offering a grand share-prize of US$185,000 and incentives to spur growth and prosperity in Africa through home-grown solutions.

IPA has seen tremendous growth in applications and increasing interest from both innovators and innovation enablers over the years. To date, IPA has attracted more than 7,500 innovators from 52 African countries, making it a truly Pan-African initiative. IPA’s 2017 edition witnessed a record number of entries from over 2,530 innovators across 48 African countries. The foundation has supported past winners and nominees with approximately US$ 1 million to move their innovations forward. Due to exposure generated by IPA, past winners have gone on to secure over US$30 million in investments to grow and scale their businesses.

“Over the years, IPA has stimulated impactful and market-oriented innovations aiming at changing lives and transforming Africa. In this sixth edition, we want to promote more investment in home-grown innovations as well as intra-African collaboration and trade to allow the scaling up of viable innovations across borders. We are excited for the opportunity to work with our partners to ensure the innovations of the 10 nominees will be available to African markets and beyond. We invite you to join us and unlock the potential of African innovators, starting by investing in these 10 nominees,” said Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl, IPA Director.

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