This Malaysian Company Turned Ordinary Umbrellas Into Weapons In the Fight Against Dengue
Using the very thing that helps mosquitoes breed against them.
By Sadho Ram — 27 Apr 2016, 03:51 PM
Last week, we told you how Dr. Dhesi Baha Raja, a Sabah-born, has won the Pistoia Alliance Life Science Award for developing a mobile app that can predict dengue outbreaks in the country. To add to that, now an invention by Grey Group Malaysia turns any ordinary umbrella into an active weapon in the fight against Dengue.
It can be attached on top of an umbrella. Like this:
The RainSprout, that contains mosquito larvae-killing chemicals that drain off whenever the umbrella attached with it is used during rain, uses the rainfall to distribute the larvicide into the very puddles where mosquitoes can breed.
Therefore, effectively turning the very thing that helps mosquitoes breed into an active weapon in the fight against Dengue.
In fact, the RainSprouts were distributed for free this April in KL and Petaling Jaya where a dengue outbreak had recently occurred.
The RainSprout project will be listed on webe community platform in June this year so that members of the community can help in delivering it to even greater mass distribution. Meanwhile, speaking of innovation, a bunch of students from the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Adelaide designed a water purifier using a glass tube and a metal chip packet back in 2014: