Self-disinfecting handle Life-saving invention opens the door for tech boom in the Caribbean

When the Jamaican university student Rayvon Stewart invented a workable model for a door handle that could disinfect itself after every touch, it was hailed as a potential gamechanger, with promising implications for controlling the spread of disease.

- Natricia Duncan Kingston

Alison Drayton, assistant secretary general of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a 15-member bloc of countries, recently described the invention as a "meaningful solution" for the region and a "life-saving design that fits our reality".

Stewart, now 30, was just 23 and a student at Jamaica's University of Technology when he conceptualised the pioneering ultra-violet self-sanitising door handle model, which he calls Xermosol. Since then he has been working to bring the product to market, winning Jamaica's prime minister's national youth award in the process. He says it can kill 99.9% of pathogens but is safe for people and animals.

Today, his invention is celebrated as a symbol of the Caribbean's growing science and technology talent pool.