Bradley Voges

Just four weeks ago 20fourlabs and Blueworld Communities decided to enter into the Nokia Calling All Innovators Africa competition, obviously confident of the talent we have in our stable. This competition calls for innovators around the world to develop an application that can be utilised on a specific range of Nokia phones. The application is to have a specific African focus and make use of key Nokia phone features (maps, location based services, etc). For more information on the competition go to: www.callingallinnovators.com/africa

Teams within 20fourlabs were established and many brilliant ideas were put forward on ‘Alchemy’ our internal idea voting engine. The ideas were then voted upon and in the end the Afridoctor application was chosen. We now had three weeks to design it, build it, find appropriate content and test it before submission. Thanks to a small team of specialists (Werner Erasmus and Leonard Ah Kun) we were able to not only meet the tight deadline but add a couple of fantastic features that were thought up along the way.

To understand the application better, here is a brief description:

“Afridoctor is Africa’s first personal mobile health clinic, turning your device into a powerful first aid information kit, a doctor-location service, and an emergency distress notifier. Its revolutionary “SnapDiagnosis” system allows users to submit photos of their ailments and remotely receive advice from a panel of professionals. Afridoctor’s mapping feature enables users to find doctors, clinics and all health industry related services within their proximity.  The emergency feature notifies next of kin of their distress and location. Features include symptom checkers, first-aid information, health calculators and quizzes. Afridoctor helps make healthcare affordable and accessible to the people of Africa.”

Key features of the application include: SnapDiagnosis, Find a Doctor and Distress.

SnapDiagnosis: Put your mind at ease - This feature allows you to get feedback from a panel of doctors on any ailments (moles, scars, burns, warts, etc) that you can take a photograph of. Expert feedback will be provided to you within 48 hours of your submission. The scalable panel of doctors is offered via reputable Health24 partnership.

Find a Doctor: Save Time - Utilizing local search via Google Maps you are able to search for any health service in your area, including doctors, hospitals, emergency clinics, etc. Simply type your criteria in the search field at the bottom of the map and click “search”. The map will then populate the results.

Distress: Feel Safe - Alert a family member or friend that you are in distress and inform them of your current location quickly and simply. Once you have submitted a recipients mobile number, they will be notified the instant you press the distress button. As Nokia’s home screen publishing API is further developed there would be an option to include an Afridoctor distress button as a useful home screen widget. This would enable the user to send a distress sms with one click, without having to load the Afridoctor application first.

Other features include: Quizes, Calculators, First Aid tips and a Symptom checker.

The application has been built for the S60 5th Edition Nokia phones in line with the competition guidelines. Depending on the success of the competition, the concept can be expanded to be usable on most if not all smart phones.

The application not only meets the requirements of the Nokia competition but fills a void that currently exists in many African countries where there is a huge demand for basic health related information yet this information is not very reliable or easily accessible. Regardless of the outcome of the competition we will look to develop this application further to make it accessible to a far greater audience.

Thanks to all those within 20fourlabs/BWCOM for your help specifically Werner Erasmus, Leonard Ah Kun and Ronald Bach for their help in designing and building the product. Another word of thanks goes to Danie Pauw and the Health24 team for partnering with us on this project and supplying key content.

The results of the competition will be announced by the 10th of December - hold thumbs.