Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Every year, more than 9 million people fall sick with TB, and 1.7 million die. Most strains of the disease can be effectively treated with a lengthy course of medicine, usually provided free by governments. But patients must be correctly diagnosed in the first place—not exactly a given, considering the test used in most low and middle income countries hasn’t been updated in 125 years. The test involves a tedious examination of sputum by lab techs, and it doesn’t identify antibiotic-resistant strains well.