3D Printing and Bio-Based Materials in Global Health: An Interventional Approach to the Global Burden of Surgical Disease in Low-and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract

In this book, we take a unique and integrative approach to examining the global burden of disease and in particular, the surgical burden of disease. We examine the vinterventional capacity for modern technologies and innovations to be applied, adapted, and directly sourced in low- and middle-income countries. We specifically examine the interventional capacities of 3D printing technologies to fabricate surgical instruments and tools to be utilized to enhance surgical care and delivery in resource poor settings. In further following the true tenets of intellectual curiosity and innovation, we take a unique focus on the use of natural and sustainable bio-based materials in fabrication of these medical devices. In this book, we derive a multifaceted approach that examines everything from the social and economic elements related to the burden of surgical conditions on human health, to examining the tenets of applied frugal engineering of 3D printing technologies and the global medical device supply chain, to that of the materials science behind bio-based materials.