In India and Africa, the frequent reuse of syringes leads to cross infection and death. In this audio interview with Sheela Sethuraman, Marc Koska, the winner of the 2008 Tech Award in health, discusses what led him to design and promote an auto-disable syringe that prevents reuse. He describes the financial underpinnings of Star Syringe, its campaign orientation, and how engineering teams assist licensees in setting up and improving the manufacturing process.
Marc Koska attended Stowe School in Buckingham, and then traveled for several years with a short period working in London. He skied, sailed and worked his way around Europe, the U.S. and the Caribbean. In the Caribbean he worked as a model maker of scenes of crime to be used in courts. In 1984, Koska started researching the problem of syringe reuse, which led to the formation of Star Syringe and the introduction of the K1 syringe. He has received many awards in recognition of this work. Most recently he was awarded the OBE in 2006.
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This free podcast is from our Tech Awards series.
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