Editor's Summary
18 May 2006
Diagnostics without borders
When Médecins Sans Frontières workers recognized the need for a diagnostic test for malaria suitable for use in the resource-poor conditions of the developing world, they acted on what they saw. With help from scientists in the field and from several manufacturers, an alternative test was conceived, designed and developed in just two years, and at relatively low cost. In this issue Médecins Sans Frontières scientists describe how under-used resources in universities and industrial labs across the world could be utilized in similar projects to provide diagnostics for other 'forgotten' diseases.
Commentary: Neglected tests for neglected patients
Alternative ways to develop diagnostic tools for use in resource-poor settings can, and do, exist, argue Martine Usdin, Martine Guillerm and Pierre Chirac of Doctors without Borders.
doi:10.1038/441283a
