Many of us will see something very powerful or moving on television and be compelled to make a real difference to this cause. However, with the stress and time commitment of the average daily routine, it can be very hard to devote sufficient time to many charitable or humanitarian projects. This is coupled with the fact that many people think it would be impossible for an individual person to make a significant difference to a cause that is incredibly large in scale.
However, Marc Koska was not held back by these doubts and has devoted much of his adult life to solving the problem of blood related diseases spread through re-used needles. The problem has become incredibly wide-spread and now accounts for 1.3 million deaths a year, which is even more than malaria. Although lacking the expertise at the time, Mark dedicated himself to the study of public health in order to try to find a way to tackle the issue.
He resolved that the design of the syringe was a large part of the problem of re-use and set about to redesign it. He came up with the K-1 syringe, which locks down after one use so that it can not possibly be reused. This alternative is also relatively cheap and will slowly come to replace the current type of syringe as it is rapidly distributed in the developing world.
Mr Koska was awarded an OBE in 2006, which he describes as his proudest moment. As awareness about his campaign spreads, he claims that he is right on the cusp of making a huge impact to the issue, a goal he has been working towards for over 25 years. Mark is an ambassador for Bremont watches, sponsoring him to travel all over the world to educate the health industry of the developing world about the dangers of re-using tools that have had contact with blood and saving countless lives in the process.
There are a great number of Bremont ambassadors and they represent excellence in a huge variety of different fields. Rather than exclusively sponsoring celebrities, it is wonderful to see a man as dedicated and philanthropic as Marc Koska being celebrated and commended for his selfless efforts.
For more information about Marc and his innovative solution to a global crisis, you can listen to his ‘maximise potential’ podcast or watch his TED talk.