Lakhs of TB-infected children will benefit from a lollipop and chewing gum-inspired child-friendly sample collection device under development

-- Nearly 1 – 1.15 lakh children in India get affected by TB every year. Thousands of cases go unmissed as the testing is not child friendly. Current sample collection methods are painful, time consuming and inconvenient.
-- First-of-its-kind sample collection device to be developed by 221B Biomedical Pvt. Ltd. with grant and support from India Health Fund, a Tata Trusts initiative.
-- The flavoured low-cost device will require children to simply chew and blow or cough for easy and safe sample collection of oral fluids.
-- The innovation will make testing simpler and will likely increase testing and treatment rates, lower mortality and infection transmission due to TB.