A research team from the KU Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology has developed a rapid malaria diagnostic kit that can detect the presence of the malaria parasite within minutes using only a smartphone camera and a low-cost test strip.
The kit, named RapidTest-Mal, represents a breakthrough in accessible diagnostics for Sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria remains one of the leading causes of death, particularly among children under five. The innovation was developed over two years by a team led by Dr. Amina Hassan and Prof. David Mwangi of the School of Health Sciences.
The patient provides a finger-prick blood sample which is applied to a specially designed test strip embedded with malaria-specific antibodies. The strip is then photographed using a companion smartphone application, which analyses the colour intensity of the reactive bands using an embedded AI algorithm and returns a diagnosis within 3 minutes.
In clinical trials conducted at three county hospitals in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa, the kit demonstrated a sensitivity of 97.3% and specificity of 98.1%, comparable to laboratory-grade RDTs that cost five times more. The entire kit costs under Ksh 150 (approximately $1.15) per test to produce.
The project received seed funding from the Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). The team is now seeking regulatory approval from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) Kenya, with a target commercial launch in Q1 2026.
