Syringes are replaceable, humans are not

While most of the US is aware of the health consequences of reusing a syringe, most are unaware of exactly how widespread, costly and damaging this practice is. Seven billion unsafe injections occur worldwide every year, causing 32 percent of hepatitis B infections, 40 percent of hepatitis C infections and five percent of HIV infections. These numbers clearly show that a large percentage of the spread of infectious disease could be reduced through the use of a clean syringe with every injection.

 

The staggering facts behind unsafe injections led Marc Koska to create an auto disposable syringe, the K1. The K1 syringe works by a locking mechanism in the syringe. During use the syringe plunger passes a ring in the barrel of the syringe that locks the plunger in place. The plunger cannot be retracted and excessive force to remove the plunger breaks the syringe.

 

All that is needed to manufacture the K1 syringe is a simple patented mould. After signing a license agreement, manufacturers of disposable syringes can easily convert their manufacturing process to make the auto disposable K1 syringe. This means that the production of K1 syringes requires no new equipment and produces auto disposable syringes for roughly the same price as current syringes. 

 

While the production of K1 syringes themselves may not cost more to manufacture, using four syringes rather than one will require a great deal of money. In Tanzania alone the use of auto disposable syringes will increase syringe use from 40 million to 200 million syringes. This results in an additional seven million dollars cost, but in theory, should reduce healthcare costs by as much as 70 million dollars. Although the long-term benefit greatly surpasses the immediate cost, seven million dollars does not appear out of thin air.

 

The economic equation in Tanzania exemplifies that fact that the practice of safe injections requires much more than simply creating syringes that can only be used once. Widescale changes require education, policy changes and funding. The complexity of the safe injection problem is the impetus for Safepoint.

 

Safepoint aims to educate the public about the dangers of unsafe injections. Under their Lifesaver project they hope to unite auto disposable syringe manufacturers with their message “New packet. Used once. Safely disposed”. Tanzania became the first lifesaver country with the government committed to using only auto-disposable syringes that meet PQS/ISO standard.

 

While it may seem straightforward that a syringe should only be used once, the practice of reusing syringes is quite widespread. This practice results in a large increase in the spread of disease, which greatly increases human suffering and healthcare costs. The solution while straightforward, i.e. don’t reuse syringes, becomes complex because of the reasons behind the reuse of syringes. The reasons behind this practice are complex and include lots of ‘lack’: lack of education, lack of policy on syringe use, and lack of clean syringes.

 

The creation of auto disposable syringes forces the use of a new syringe with each injection, but these types of syringes must be used to be effective. In Tanzania, which has committed to only using auto-disposable syringes, the benefits of this practice are already apparent. The effect in Tanzania shows that policy change and education on the practice of safe injections can make a difference.