Feature Health & Medicine

A low-cost rotavirus test could save childrens’ lives in Nigeria

Improving rapid testing could save children’s lives in low-resource settings

Margaret Oluwatoyin Japhet talks to her lab members

Margaret Oluwatoyin Japhet leads a lab at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, where she is developing an affordable bedside test for rotavirus.

Obafemi Awolowo University

By Sharon Muzaki

In hospitals across Nigeria and much of sub-Saharan Africa, children with severe diarrhea arrive daily. Clinicians act quickly to prevent dehydration and eventual death, though they aren’t always successful.