Sisu Global Health has developed a device that recycles blood without using electricity for hospitals in developing countries.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “75 countries report collecting fewer than 10 donations per 1,000 population.” The vast majority of these countries are located in Africa.

Not only is blood itself in short supply (and expensive), clean and effective ways to obtain and transmit it are also lacking.

Of the donations low-income countries receive, only 16% are monitored through external quality assessment schemes, says the WHO. This leads to the continued spread of diseases, such as HIV.

In addition, unnecessary and unsafe transfusions run rampant in low-income clinics, creating even more problems.

Fortunately, a hospital in West Africa came up with a blood-collecting technique that would become the inspiration for a revolution in blood technology.

When Carolyn Yarina and Gillian Henker visited the hospital, they saw doctors use a cup to collect and reuse blood from internal bleeding, reports The Baltimore Sun.

Using this idea as a foundation, they created Sisu Global Health, a medical device company for emerging markets.

Their breakthrough technology, called the Hemafuse, is a manual autotransfusion device used to retransfuse a patient’s own blood during an internal hemorrhage, according to their website.

The Hemafuse does not need electricity to run, which makes it the perfect solution for clinics in developing countries.

With such a revolutionary, environmentally-friendly product, Sisu has already attracted attention from big-time investors.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the company has obtained a $100,000 investment from AOL Co-Founder Steve Case, after entering his “Rise of the Rest” startup competition.

Yarina and Henker have stumbled onto an immensely valuable idea here, one that will help ensure blood safety and sustainable blood flow in countries that have a desperate need for plasma.

– Ashley Tressel

Sources: Baltimore Sun, WHO, SISU Global Health, Rise of Rest