OPINION: Diabetes no longer precludes sustainable and healthy livelihood to vaccibox

Before the year 1922, Type 1 diabetes resulted into imminent death soon after diagnosis since treatment was not available.

This death sentence was reversed with the successful discovery of the role of insulin, its extraction and use of the hormone for treatment. Leonard Thomson, 13 years old as on the 11th January, 1922 is the first known type 1 diabetic to have lived longest with this metabolic disorder after receiving the first and of course impure insulin that was extracted from the pancreas of a cow (bovine insulin).

This impure insulin triggered severe life threatening immune reaction that would have killed him sooner than the, as at the time, inevitable death from type one diabetes. 

Further purifications of the crude insulin and injection of the maiden patient got him off the death bed into a normal life for additional 13 years before his death at the age of 26 in the year 1933.

Today, normal life with Type 1 diabetes is possible without disability as a result of experiments in dogs that led to the identification of insulin, a previously unknown lifesaving and life preserving hormone.

102 years on, debilitation from this metabolic disorder continue to inflict catastrophic loss of active healthy lives to many especially those unable to sustain appropriate storage of the life saving hormone.

Insulin dependent diabetes, also known as type I diabetes mellitus occurs during the juvenile years and therefore a prolonged duration living with the disease unlike type II diabetes which is usually diagnosed in adulthood.

 On the 14th of November, 2024, the World Health Organisation reported that the number of people living with diabetes has risen by 315%, from 200 million people in 1990 to 830 million people in 2022 and that this Prevalence has been rising more rapidly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) than in high-income countries.

Most of these so called LMICs are located within the tropics, in the continents of South America, Africa and Asia where the sun is always overhead, in a climate that never experiences winter.

Vaccibox, a solar powered refrigerator, blends perfectly in this environment where the need for low cost and sustainable Health Care is high and one that does not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Insulin must remain refrigerated at temperature ranges between positive 4 to positive 8 degrees Celsius to maintain its potency or else this protein gets denatured and becomes stale when the temperature range is not observed consistently.  

The imperative need to keep the hormone refrigerated is out of reach to both the rural and urban poor population due limited affordability, sometimes lack of reliable electricity or natural gas powered refrigerators.  

However, the rich who can consistently afford the associated costs contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, a phenomenon known to accelerate climate change with the consequent high frequency of extreme weather events and disruption of the ecosystem and natural equilibrium. Healthcare is a major contributor to climate change from the industrial production of medicines and consumables. Reducing carbon footprint is a cyclical necessity to maintain human health in a healthy ecosystem.

The revolutionary vaccibox scientifically solves this dilemma of need for health without contributing to acceleration of climate change as this storage equipment is run on the readily available sunlight to generate power and store in lithium batteries to keep the hormone stored at the optimum temperature without the necessity of electricity or methane gas.

Insulin available in the market today is produced through recombinant DNA technology, is  highly purified, non-allergen and mimics the natural human insulin by more than 99 % in similarities and biological characteristics and is as potent as the protein produced naturally by the human pancreas. This pure insulin is markedly bio efficient and comparatively more expensive than the animal extracts that were used in the years prior to 1950.

VACCIBOX is revolutionary in plugging in these deficits with the triple advantage of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions while concurrently providing the opportunity for preserving the potency of insulin in rural health facilities and homes without the need for thermal generated (fossil fuel dependent) electricity but the readily available sunshine at no extra structural or financial costs.

 Additionally, the circumvented costs of electricity or natural gas leads to the financial savings and expenditure relief to rural health facilities, families and the urban poor population. These savings work to alleviate poverty by protecting the affected individuals from catastrophic lifelong expenditures on insulin storage costs.

Undisputedly, Heat waves create a vicious cycle of propagated greenhouse gas emissions since demand for cooling raises the demand for energy to run air conditioners, refrigeration and temperature regulations in buildings which lead to increased burning of fossil fuels and a vicious cycle of accelerated climate change.

VACCIBOX is the silver bullet for sustainability and livelihoods that aligns with the global push for green technology and reduced carbon footprints in healthcare especially for medical products that require refrigeration such as insulin and vaccines in both privileged and resource deprived environments.

The Economic and Social Benefits of this innovation could indirectly alleviate poverty by lowering health-related expenses and cost savings for rural health facilities and low-income families, addressing the financial burden of insulin storage.

Any human living with insulin dependent diabetes should acquire vaccibox to aid in their sustainable cost effective life.