SDG 3: GOOD HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Good health and wellbeing are at the core of CathExe. When 381 million people are pushed into extreme poverty, due to out-of-pocket medical payments, decreasing the cost of healthcare is not only essential, but lifesaving.^[1] Decreasing poverty is the very first Sustainable Development Goal and, with this in mind, we strive to produce affordable and accessible medical solutions.

By reducing the likelihood of catheter associated UTIs, we aim to decrease unexpected hospitalisation and medication bills to treat unwanted infections. This would allow for catheterisation to be accessible for many individuals who may have avoided this essential healthcare due to economic anxiety. Hospitals in poorer countries would be under less economic pressure as the quantity of patients with catheter associated infections, which are unnecessarily common now, would be significantly decreased. Those who are catheterised, in and outside of hospitals, are already unwell and catheter associated comorbidities significantly impact well-being and recovery time. We aim to increase patient well-being by reducing anxiety and treatment costs.

By reducing infection risk, we aim to limit antibiotic usage in both hospital and home environments, helping to prevent antibiotic resistance. When antibiotic resistance leads to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs and increased mortality, decreasing its prevalence is globally beneficial.^[2]

During our project, we spoke to Dr Eleanor Townsend, a microbiologist with research experience in preventing biofilm formation on catheters. She helped us to consider the possible implementation and administration issues, such as storage, shelf life and economic strain on the NHS. We made sure to discuss these unknowns and theorise the possible outcomes of all stages of the project, from cradle to grave. Within our environmental assessment, we analysed how many stakeholders may be affected (including staff, patients and public). Throughout our human practices consideration, we developed integrated two way conversations between experts, our lab and end users.

Click Here To See All Stakeholders

SDG 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

Within any research project, ethical consumption and sustainable production should be respected. Expanding upon our work to meet SDG9, in which we promoted sustainable industrialisation, we turned our focus towards responsible consumption and production.

Alongside our environmental analysis document, we developed a series of spreadsheets and PDFs documenting our carbon footprint and plastic consumption. For two weeks, we kept track of every plastic laboratory consumable we used to analyse the responsibility of our consumption. From here we could extrapolate a value for our total plastic consumption.

Furthermore, the carbon dioxide emissions for travel of each ordered item into our lab were calculated. This assessment allowed us to reflect upon our consumption and work to reduce unnecessary usage of plastic and electricity. We created a series of posters to educate other lab users on our findings and reduce plastic consumption in our area. We encourage all iGEM teams to follow similar tracking methods to understand their environmental consumption during the project and the implications of production.

At the very beginning of our project, we met with several representatives from StarLabs, Merck and Eppendorf at a university suppliers fair. Through open discussions on sustainability, each company pointed us towards sustainable options for their consumables. From plant-oil-based plastics to high-efficiency water filters and plastic-less packaging, we were made aware of the environmentally conscious choices we should make. We wanted to take the opportunity to reduce our own contribution to climate change and educate others on sustainable consumption throughout our project.

Click Here To See The Full Review