The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 4 (August) - Page 13

Industry News

App Design Could Save Lives with
Early Pneumonia Detection
A team from Uganda’s Makerere University is the only African winner in
the 2014-2015 Big Ideas Contest for its
app that could aid in early detection of
pneumonia.
The app, which won Makerere a tie for
second place in the global health category of the contest, combines a cell
phone prototype with specially developed cell phone applications. This
enables it to make a detailed analysis and
preliminary diagnosis of “lung crackles”
through digitised audio recordings from
a patient’s chest.
The team intends to have a connection
to a modified stethoscope for better
readings of lung sounds and the device
will be able to store and send chest
recordings as digital files so that they
can be expertly analysed at a later point
if necessary. In addition, the stethoscope would be embedded in a vest to
ensure continuous monitoring. Since the
recorded sound can be stored on the cell
phone as a digital file, it can be sent later

on for expert analysis through the cloud.
The Big Ideas judges were particularly
impressed by the proposal due to the
danger pneumonia presents to patients
– particularly in the developing world –
and due to a high success rate in treatment if detected early.
“The affordability and wide availability
of cell phones make them an innovative platform for the development of
simple medical diagnosis capabilities for
use in the field,” the judges said. “This is
especially true in under-developed countries where skilled medical practitioners
and their most sophisticated devices are
often thin on the ground.”
The team was one of only two international universities to win an award in the
completion, which was organised by the
University of California (UC) Berkeley.
The other international winner was a
team from Australia’s Monash University
that developed an advanced reading tablet for young children.

The contest aims to encourage students to use skills gained at university outside their courses on passion
projects that could better the world.
Teams put together initial proposals
and Big Ideas helps them turn these
into action throughout the course of a
year by providing funding, support and
encouragement.
All of the projects are at very early stages
and will need significant development
before working applications are available.
Other teams that won awards in the
same global health category as Makerere
included a UC Davis team that designed
a sand-and-plant system for treating
wastewater on a large scale (tied first
place); a UC Berkeley team that designed
a programme to increase training in
cervical cancer screening methods (tied
first place); and a UC Berkeley team that
developed a method for removing fluoride from water that is appropriate to the
culture, environment and technology of
rural India (tied second place). n

PCHA, HIMSS and Games for Health
Announce Strategic Partnership
Games for Health annual conference integrated in the 2015 mHealth Summit, November 8-11 in Washington, DC
The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHA) at HIMSS
and the Games for Health Project have announced a strategic
partnership to deliver comprehensive resources and business
development opportunities to the gaming community. HIMSS
and PCHA are focusing on advancing personal health technologies in care delivery, including mobile and connected health,
that empower and engage providers, patients and consumers in
health and wellness.
Games for Health is the leading voice and professional community in the field of health games, representing the full spectrum
of health technologies. Together with PCHA and HIMSS, this
partnership will bring greater focus to cutting-edge games and
gaming technologies covering the spectrum from wellness to
disease management.

“Gaming technology is playing an increasing role in care delivery and the management of health and wellness,” said Richard
Scarfo, Vice President, Personal Connected Health Alliance at
HIMSS, and Director of the mHealth Summit. “Our strategic
partnership with Games for Health compliments PCHA’s support of the full continuum of technology-driven health and
wellness. Gaming technology is becoming an important addition to social media, wearables and mobile health, as well as an
adjunct to clinical care management.”
As part of this collaboration, Games for Health will host a
portfolio of activities at both this year’s mHealth Summit and
the HIMSS16 Annual Conference. The Games for Health University will once again return to the 2015 mHealth Summit on
November 8, featuring a full-day tutorial focused on how and
when games should be used in the health and healthcare secContinued on page 12

The Journal of mHealth

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