Three-Cent HIV Test: I've Seen Worse Ideas

"Diagnostic Lab Made of Paper and Tape Could Lead to a 3-Cent HIV Test"
Discover (December 10, 2008)

"A new device smaller and cheaper than a postage stamp could be used to diagnose diseases in developing countries, Harvard researchers report. The sophisticated microfluidic diagnostic devices, called microPADS, are made out of little more than paper and sticky tape and cost about three cents each. '“The starting point with us was asking, "What's the simplest, cheapest [material] we could think of?" … And that was paper,' [The Scientist] said co-author George Whitesides...."

If these microPADs are as reliable as the developers say they are, this is a really good idea.

As the article points out (quoting Wired Science): "...In the developing world, cost, durability and ease-of-use are stumbling blocks for many medical technologies. But a cheap, simple device like a paper microfluidics chip could be used in health care diagnostics, and for monitoring environmental factors, quality of water and the health of plants and animals...."

Hats off to Discover and Wired Science for the detailed reporting: and seeing that 'developing countries' have health issues other than AIDS.

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BTW, there seems to be a difference of opinion about how the paper microfluidics chip's name is spelled: both microPADS and microPADs show up in the article.

Also, the article's URL indicates that the original headline had the chip's cost at two cents each.