Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Only in 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) reported 247 million clinical cases of malaria, with around 619000 casualties, 76% of whom were children under the age of five. Malaria appears to be on the increase due to global warming. According to the WHO, in 2021 more than 50% of the global population was at risk of malaria infection. Timely diagnoss can significantly reduce the mortality rate, but the equipment needed is complex, expensive, and requires qualified personnel. In rural areas, these aspects are particularly limiting. 

There are several diagnostic techniques for the diagnosis of malaria, but the current gold standard remains microscopy, which allows direct visualisation of the parasite within the red blood cell. However, microscopy remains little used in low-resource settings (where malaria is most prevalent) as it requires complex, expensive, hard-to-find equipment and highly skilled personnel.

This project concerns the realisation of an open-source microscope designed to perfectly fit the limitations of low-resource contexts.