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Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people in Africa annually, and it sickens millions more.
瘧疾每年都會造成非洲成千上萬人的死亡,而且還會使上百萬人身染此病。
Medicine can keep the disease in check and save lives.
而藥物可以阻礙疾病蔓延并且拯救生命。
But up to half the drugs in Africa may be substandard—and up to a third may be counterfeit.
但非洲一半以上的藥物可能并不合格,更有甚者三分之一以上很有可能是假藥。
At the moment, there's no easy way to reliably test a drug in the field.
目前尚沒有一種簡單的方法能可以測試這一地區的藥物。
That could change if a new technology called PharmaCheck, developed by researchers at Boston University, moves from prototype to reality.
但如果由波士頓大學的研究人員開發的叫做PharmaCheck的這種新技術從原型樣本變為現實，可能會徹底改變現在的境況。
The pill in question is dissolved in liquid.
測試的藥品在液體中溶解。
Miniscule amounts of the liquid pass through channels in what's called a microfluidic chip.
微量的液體通過被稱為微流控芯片的管道。
The channels include a molecule that will bond to the real drug.
管道中包含的分子將和真藥中的結合。
That event produces fluorescence that can be measured by a smartphone app—which reveals how much of the drug is present and active in the pill.
如果是真藥將產生熒光,而這可以通過一個智能手機應用程序檢測,該應用會顯示藥物現價及藥品的作用。
The technology was recently awarded one of nine grants by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.
這項技術最近被全國大學發明者和創新者聯盟授予多項獎項。
The research team plans to soon test prototypes in the field in Ghana.
這一研究團隊計劃盡快在加納地區測試原型樣本。
If PharmaCheck works, regulators and pharmacists could have a simple, inexpensive method to determine whether a drug is effective.
如果PharmaCheck起作用,監管者和藥劑師就可以有一種簡單、廉價的方法來確定藥物是否有效。
Which could impede counterfeiters and save thousands of lives.
這可以阻礙造假者并挽救成千上萬人的生命。
