Update: Pilot location has changed to Mumbai, India due to political tensions in Kenya.
WHO ARE WE?
Five HEC students are creating a social enterprise that will use the power of bees to provide free diabetes detection services in urban slums around the world. Bee Healthy was one of six teams chosen from amongst 2000 entries to compete for $1 million seed
capital at the final of the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2014.
THE PROBLEM
More than 180 million people worldwide have diabetes and this number is expected to increase to 592 million people by 2035. In 2013 alone, diabetes caused 5.1 million deaths, meaning that
someone dies from diabetes related complications every six seconds.
According to WHO, the prevalence of diabetes has accelerated the most in urbanized areas of developing countries due to higher risk factors such as lack of physical activity and easy access to fast food. Many of these people living with
with diabetes are unaware of their health situation. Delay in detection can lead to health complications and higher rates of morbidity.
As early detection is key to controlling diabetes, we created
Bee Healthy: a social enterprise that can detect diabetes in slum dwellers with the use of trained bees.
HOW BEE HEALTHY CAN HELP
Bee Healthy plans to harness the power of the bee's olfactory system to detect diabetes on a person's breath. This technology could potentially be more cost effective than traditional methods of diabetes detection and does not require preparation
such as fasting. Tests can potentially be administered on the spot, in the home of a slum dweller.
As a social enterprise, we want to offer our diabetes detection services free of charge to the slum dwellers. We will also partner with local clinics to ensure that once a person is diagnosed, they can receive appropriate follow-up care.
In order to keep our business model sustainable, we will finance the detection service through the sale of bee by-products such as honey, candles and propolis. These will be produced locally and so will create local employment opportunities.
Using bees detecting diabetes has never been commercialized. Thus we are bringing together the expertise of bee-trainers and experts in biomarkers to make this happen. The potential application of this technology is huge! By using different biomarkers for
different diseases the system could be scaled to detect cancer, tuberculosis, pulmonary hypertension and many other diseases. Thus, after developing the technology it could also have a huge impact not only in slums but also in the first world.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
1. Donate
Bee Healthy needs your help to achieve our goals. This summer we are participating in a six week accelerator program in Cambridge, MA where we will refine our business plan. Before we present at the
Clinton Global Initiative in September, we need to further our research and pilot our project in an urban slum. Unfortunately, this all requires money which as recent graduates we don't have!
2. Share your Expertise
We invite you to be part of our story. Bee Healthy is founded by a group of students who believe in making a real impact in the world. If you have an expertise you would like to share with Bee Healthy
to help us spread this impact, we would love to hear from you.
3. Share our story
Help us share our story with your friends and family.
Website: Coming Soon
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BeeHealthyStory
Twitter: twitter.com/BeeHealthyStory
