Inexpensive urinalysis test strips to screen for diabetes in developing countries

Sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly experiencing the double burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. Many of these diseases, including diabetes, remain prevalent despite the availability of viable treatment options. Lack of access to screening tools frequently prevents individuals from seeking a diagnosis or pursuing treatment. The development of alternative screening devices in the form of low cost test strips has the potential to surmount existing barriers to treatment, allowing earlier intervention in the progression of diabetes. This article presents a demonstration that modified published protocols for glucose and ketone detection in solution — two of the principal chemical signatures of diabetes — are reproducible on test strips manufactured using composite rubber-foam stamps to print chemical reagents on filter paper. These test strips contain specific chemicals which, in the presence of disease markers, cause a visible color change and defined intensity gradient that can be experimentally verified. The creation of an affordable and effective urinalysis test strip has the ability to make screening for disease more accessible in developing nations.