One of the biggest challenges in fighting tuberculosis is simply
getting patients to take their medicine. MIT students have come
up with a possible solution: A new testing and reporting system
that is easy for patients to use and offers economic incentives
such as free cell phone minutes. … The team’s novel test strip
takes advantage of new technology known as paper microfluidics.
The strip is embedded with chemicals that react with metabolites
present in the urine of patients who have taken TB medicine.
When the chemical reaction occurs, the strip changes color,
revealing a number. Patients are given a device that dispenses
one strip every 24 hours, and after they successfully take the
test, they have about two hours to text the number on the strip
to a central database that records that they have taken the
drug.