The MatterVault: A LMIC Vault Kit Solution

*This post is part of a much larger pillar blog: The Ultimate Radiation Shielding Guide

Introduction

At AVM Group, we are committed to providing cost-effective and eco-friendly radiation shielding solutions to LMIC.

LMIC stands for Low-Middle Income Countries, and these countries have a gross national income of less than $12,235 per person (also known as “developing countries”). After doing some research, we found, alarmingly, that the rate of cancer diagnoses and deaths are rising sharply in LMIC.

The Cancer Treatment Crisis

Each year, 5 million people die from cancer in LMIC, and at least 60 percent of these cancer victims could have benefited from radiation therapy that destroys cancerous tumors and is the most common way to treat cancer and save lives. More than half the countries in Africa and many in Asia have no radiation therapy at all and other LMIC have only one cancer treatment machine for several million people.

Ethiopia has 60 million people and possesses just one machine provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This cancer treatment crisis in LMIC is growing each year, and over the next decade, the IAEA estimates that at least $2.5 billion is needed to provide adequate treatment facilities in these LMIC. Half of this costs is to purchase facilities and half to train the physicians/physicists required to ensure safe and effective treatment.

MATTERVAULT™ Kit Solution

To help lower the cost & timing to build these treatment facilities, our engineering team at AVM Group developed a very low cost solution that could be sent to each LMIC location as a kit. Our MatterVault™ LMIC Vault Kit will provide everything needed to construct a vault structure.

The kits will have all the parts, hardware, tools, and easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions to assemble the structure on any new or existing foundation. Our kits are sized based on radiation levels used, and our physicists work with local governments to make sure that the kit being supplied is sized properly.

AVM Group is also looking to team up with treatment machine suppliers and physicists to offer these LMIC more of a turn-key solution.

The Need for Radiation Therapy Facilities

Additionally, countries the IAEA is looking to help with life saving radiation therapy facilities are as follows:

• In Africa: Egypt, Tunisia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, South Africa, Gabon, Senegal, Cameroon,Madagascar and Mauritius, Ghana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan, Angola, Yemen, and Zambia.
• In Europe: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbiaand Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
• In Asia: China, Singapore, Philippine, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia,India, Japan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Myanmar.

Conclusion

At AVM Group, we proudly work with clients from around the world to provide safe and effective radiation shielding solutions. We offer temporary and permanent radiation shielding rooms for both medical and industrial clients. For more information about our MatterVault™ LMIC Vault Kit and other lifesaving radiation shielding solutions, contact us.