A painter and decorator has developed a lifesaving syringe that could stop the spread of HIV.

Marc Koska, 53, of Danehill, near Haywards Heath, spent 30 years developing the single-use syringe which has been endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He said: “I always wanted to be a superhero and save the world."

He said he had the idea to create the auto-disable syringe which effectively breaks after use after reading a newspaper article about the spread of HIV through shared needles.

Mr Koska’s Lifesaver Syringe is already being used in dozens of developing countries where it has saved countless lives.

The new WHO policy will mean that all countries around the world have to use so-called "smart" syringes by 2020, while it is encouraging manufacturers to start making them as soon as possible.

A recent WHO-sponsored study estimated that in 2010, up to 1.7 million people were infected with hepatitis B, up to 315,000 with hepatitis C virus and as many as 33,800 had HIV transmitted through unsafe injections.

Mr Koska, who spent £30 years developing the syringe has been to 64 developing countries in the last ten years where he has seen his invention used on the ground.

"It's hard to see the immediate health benefits," he said.

"But I've seen lots of very delighted nurses who have told me they've had to re-use syringes as ministries don't buy enough or the lorries delivering them haven't arrived, so we've had to make do.

"It's been heart-wrenching."

He described the endorsement of his syringe by the WHO as a "watershed moment".

Mr Koska developed the device while making a living as a painter and decorator.

"I always wanted to be a superhero and save the world," he said.

"From the age of six or seven I wondered how I could help and I knew I was good with my hands.

"It was the advent of HIV and Aids and I read in a newspaper that it was predicted that one day, syringe re-use would be a major transmission route for HIV."

Mr Koska said the "clouds parted" and he then knew what he wanted to create.

He said he visited syringe factories around the world and studied plastic injection moulding until he eventually came up with the Lifesaver, which immediately breaks if the user tries to pull back the plunger for a second use.

The beauty of the device is its simple design, he said.

Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, director of the WHO HIV/Aids department, said implementation of the syringes "should be an urgent priority for all countries".

"Adoption of safety-engineered syringes is absolutely critical to protecting people worldwide from becoming infected with HIV, hepatitis and other diseases," he said as he made the announcement in Geneva.