Powering Disease Detection Off the Grid: A BioPREVAIL Team Tackles Rural Diagnostics

March 16, 2026, 06:30 GMT

Team members: Paula Fernandes, Shadrack Otieno Were

Reliable disease detection depends on one thing often taken for granted: electricity. In rural health centers, unstable power can be a critical vulnerability. Every outage delays testing, slows patient care, and widens the window for disease transmission. As Paula Fernandes and Shadrack Otieno Were, the BioPREVAIL Built Environment Design Challenge team representing GSS Health, emphasize, reliable power isn’t just a support function—it’s a core biosecurity requirement. Their team is focused on the Off-Grid Diagnostic System, which demonstrates how laboratories can maintain continuous diagnostic capability even in power-insecure, resource-limited settings.

The BioPREVAIL team first tested their approach using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology combined with the GeneXpert platform, a widely used molecular diagnostic system. Pilot deployments at two rural health centers allowed GeneXpert machines to operate continuously for up to nine hours per day, conducting 83 TB and TB-AMR tests with 100% concordance to referral laboratory results. End users reported positive experiences, highlighting the system’s reliability and ease of operation. This proof of concept showed that accurate, continuous diagnostics are possible in off-grid rural contexts, aligning perfectly with BioPREVAIL’s mission to develop practical, sustainable laboratory solutions.

Reliable Power is not a support function – it is a core biosecurity requirement

Building on these results, the team developed a field-ready prototype designed for broader deployment. Key features include a modular design for flexible scaling, universal supply chain compatibility, enhanced security, and improved monitoring capabilities, allowing remote oversight of system performance. The design also draws on the team’s extensive field implementation experience and global peer-to-peer laboratory networks, ensuring the system integrates seamlessly into existing workflows while remaining resilient to infrastructure constraints.

The stakes for such a system are high. In rural clinics, frequent power outages are not just inconvenient—they are a serious biosecurity risk. Each interruption in testing increases the likelihood of disease transmission. By providing a reliable, off-grid diagnostic platform, the innovation technology helps reduce response times, improve patient care, and strengthen biosecurity. The system leverages GeneXpert technology for accurate testing and combines it with a sustainable power solution, demonstrating that practical, resilient diagnostics are achievable even in resource-limited settings.

The project also reflects a broader ethos of the BioPREVAIL challenge: innovation that balances technical sophistication with real-world usability. The team’s experience delivering custom technical solutions, adapting them to field conditions, and maintaining long-standing partnerships with laboratories ensures that the system is not only theoretically effective but truly operational in diverse environments.

For this team, the Off-Grid Diagnostic System is more than a technical solution—it’s proof that resilient, continuous disease surveillance is possible anywhere, even where infrastructure is limited. Their BioPREVAIL project shows that innovation doesn’t have to wait for perfect conditions; it can adapt to real-world challenges, keeping diagnostic services accurate, reliable, and ready to respond whenever they’re needed. By addressing power as a core requirement rather than a background utility, the team is helping reimagine rural diagnostics, protect communities, strengthen biosecurity, and showcase the type of practical innovation the BioPREVAIL Built Environment Design Challenge is designed to inspire worldwide.

To learn more about the work at GSS Health, visit their website.