Marc Koska Quotes

United Kingdom, Inventor
March 14, 1961

Marc Andrew Koska OBE (born 14 March 1961 in Bournemouth) is best known for inventing the non-reusable K1 auto-disable syringe, thus preventing the medical transmission of blood-borne diseases.

A number of immunisation programmes are funded and announced by the government and international bodies, but little thought goes into the injecting or delivery mechanism.

Marc Koska
I grew up in England, went to a nice public school, then didn't want to go to university, so I thought I would wander around. I did a season skiing, a bit of sailing, typical spoilt brat stuff. I ended up in the Caribbean. I was having a blast.

Marc Koska
- Up
- School
- Nice

The Tanzanian government recognised there is a problem: that they don't have enough sterile syringes, that they are being reused probably four or five times each, and that this reuse is a massive contributor to their burden of healthcare.

Marc Koska
- Health care
I read a newspaper article in May 1984 which predicted that syringes would one day be a major cause of the transmission of HIV. It was what I had been waiting for - a project that had a lot of the things that I liked: problem-solving, product design, campaigning, and being a bit of a big mouth pain-in-the-bum.

Marc Koska
- May
- Pain
- Waiting
Twenty-two million cases of hepatitis B are spread every year because of the reuse of syringes. The WHO says one in two injections given is unsafe.

Marc Koska