Print Email Facebook Twitter The extent to which circular economy principles have been applied in the design of medical devices for low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa. Title The extent to which circular economy principles have been applied in the design of medical devices for low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.: A systematic review Author Samenjo, K.T. (TU Delft Design for Sustainability) Oosting, R.M. (TU Delft Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology) Bakker, C.A. (TU Delft Circular Product Design) Diehl, J.C. (TU Delft Design for Sustainability) Date 2023 Abstract Healthcare facilities in low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa are plaguedwith issues of non-functional and obsolete medical devices, which ultimatelyend up prematurely disposed of as waste. With increasing healthcare demands,stopping medical device disposal is imperative. One way to achieve this isto leverage circular economy principles in designing medical devices. Circulareconomy principles aim to retain products and their constituent materials tobe reused over time in the economic system. However, to what extent this hasbeen applied in designing medical devices specifically for low-resource settingsin Sub-Saharan Africa is missing in literature. Based on a systematic review of29 out of 1,799 screened scientific papers, we identified the use of circulareconomy principles of durability, maintenance, repair, and upgrade in designingmedical devices for this setting. Whether these principles were intentionallyapplied from a circular economy approach could not be inferred in this study.The motivational basis for using these principles was to ensure medical devicelongevity to providing healthcare. No attention was given to the circular economyprinciples of refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling, ensuring that devicecomponents and constituent materials are recovered. These study findings serveas a launchpad for exploring how circular principles can be used to supportthe design of medical devices for low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.Academicians and designers of medical devices can leverage this research tocontribute towards developing medical devices that support access to healthcarefor people in low-resource settings and preserve earth’s finite resources Subject circular economy principlesmedical device designlow-resource settingsSub-Saharan Africaproduct design To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7159328e-f115-4497-b7db-a3d4058ec37f DOI 10.3389/rsus.2023.1079685 ISSN 2673-4524 Source Frontiers in Sustainability | Circular Economy, 4 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 K.T. Samenjo, R.M. Oosting, C.A. Bakker, J.C. Diehl Files PDF frsus_04_1079685.pdf 851.88 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:7159328e-f115-4497-b7db-a3d4058ec37f/datastream/OBJ/view