CDC 6 Winnable Diseases--Which one can an engineer help win?

In early October, Center for Disease Control Director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden announced a list of six diseases which can be concerned.

1.) Healthcare Associated Infections
2.) HIV
3.) Motor Vehicle Injuries
4.) Obesity, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Food Safety
5.) Teen Pregnancy
6.) Tobacco

There are a lot of specific challenges here for physicians, biomedical engineers, and chemists to tackle. What can the physicists and physical engineers bring to the table?

My first approach is to re-rank them as to the potential role of physical science. The top three would be Motor Vehicles Injuries, Healthcare Associated Infections, and Nutrition and Physical Activity

Motor Vehicle Injury Reduction has been addressed with engineering solutions for decades. Seat Belts, Safety Glass, Airbags, Third Tail light, Anti-locking Brakes, and Crumple Zones have save many lives. Much of these go back to Ralph Nader’s consumer rights investigations of automobiles in the 1960’s.

Auto Safety Systems are often divided into two groups: Crash Avoidance and Crashworthiness. DUI Interlocks and Ceiling Airbags are another emerging area of engineering approaches to these diseases. Maybe related to DUI Interlocks, seat belt interlocks or cell phone interlocks could be explored.

One example of how small technology changes can lead to safety improvements is the use of LED lighting in brake lights. LEDs illuminate faster than the old style incandescent bulbs. A few milliseconds may not seem like much, but when a drive is reacting to a stopped car and slamming on their own brakes, milliseconds may be the difference between rear end and safe stop.

Can the engineers who work with Mass Transportation Technology and Policy help reduce motor vehicle injuries? Trains, subways, buses, and walking are safer than cars.

Healthcare Associated Infections must be addressed with a mix of practices, packaging and monitoring. Could timers increase hand wash times? Could bacteria sensors be used to trigger room sanitizing? Could technologies developed for biological and chemical attacks be more widely used in hospitals? Some materials are being made with anti-bacterial properties. Can these be more widely used in healthcare environments.

With people carrying more and more technology on their person, can this be one way to approach Nutrition and Physical Activity? One analogy is a casino player’s card. In many casinos, guest can obtain personalized cards which can be inserted into slot machine, video poker games, and even some table games like blackjack. Could such a tracking device be used to track physical activity, both on the street and in the gym?

Could a MP3 or smart-phone application be used to track physical activity? Some smart-phones and watches have GPS technology built in; these could used to track mileage for walkers, runners, and hikers. Blue tooth technology could be used to connect to treadmills and cardio machines at the gym?

The three most challenging diseases are Teen Pregnancy, HIV, and Tobacco. All of these are dominated by personal choice, knowledge of outcomes, and practices. Can targeted ventilation systems reduce the problem of second hand smoke?