Since the low-cost syringe is needed in a developing country, finances become a huge burden. Although retractable syringes could be distributed, the costs would be stripping the availability of a syringe at all from many which causes an even bigger issue. Therefore, my approach has a focus on making the syringe completely unusable without the extra fancy components that pileup costs. A thermal heater could be installed in each clinic, hospital, and pharmacy which will allow the burning of the used syringes. 

 

Some medical prescriptions do require syringes which means that it will be mandatory for some individuals to leave the hospital premises with syringes in hand. Therefore, the hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies should develop a program that will stress the importance of returning used syringes. Unfortunately, the designer has no part in this. This will be up to the stakeholders distributing the syringes to enforce. One example of a program that could be used is to make the return of syringes mandatory in order to receive the next prescription. This will then have users be cautious and careful of where the syringes are placed and who gets access to them.

 

Like always, there are blurry aspects of this solution that I recognized. For instance, what if the syringe is reused by a family member or friend of the original user? We have no control over what may occur between the interval of time between syringe returns and prescription pick-ups. However, we are still limiting the amount of second uses significantly compared to allowing users to keep syringes forever. The users should not be trusted to properly dispose of syringes causing them to fall into the wrong hands which is a huge issue in a local neighborhood of mine. Kensington is a local neighborhood that is known as the nation’s largest narcotic market for heroin. During a recent neighborhood clean-up, I noticed that syringes cover the streets and pavement. Many of the syringes are selfishly and improperly disposed of because of users knowing how easy it is to get new ones without any issues being given from a local non-profit organization named Prevention Point. If a log was kept that tracked who were receiving syringes and when it was received, this will allow the enforcement of returning the syringes. It will make people aware and could clean up the streets loaded with used syringes that are ticking time bombs waiting for a spread of disease. Another con of my solution is that it may place extra stress on an already overworked group of people: medical professionals. 

 

If the United States, a developed country is even having issues with syringes this clearly gets even more complex when addressing a developing country. Of course, I do not want both the spread of disease to occur and finances to become a barrier. Unfortunately, the finances and accessibility needs to be prioritized though. There are different strategies to encourage people to not reuse syringes while there really is not a way to fix healthcare systems that are already extremely limiting and damaged. I prefer to have a country have more accessibility to syringes than stripping it away leading to individuals becoming more desperate and finding ways around the auto disable syringes. 

 

Some ideas that were discussed in class all had its pros and cons as well along with every solution. One solution that was directly suggested by Khanjan was simple and effective if we lived in a world that did not strip away healthcare access. Khanjan’s idea was to have color indicators on syringes. The syringes would have a green mark if it was not ever used and a red mark if it was. This is a great approach, but some people who are not given any access to syringes will care less about what color the syringe is. They are desperate and are willing to take the risk of a possible spread of disease. On the other hand, my group initially said retractable syringes were the best approach but how will you assure that people still can afford the syringes since the extra component needed will develop more costs. 

 

As I analyzed the different solutions more and more, I started to realize how other issues in the world start to clash with a solution to another problem. The cycle feels never ending, so I used ethical decision making led me to developing my solution based on priorities.