How Selfies Could Detect a Common Deadly Disease

Thursday, December 11, 2014

People might take selfies someday to detect a deadly yet treatable medical condition, according to an award-winning team of medical inventors.

Jarrel C. Seah and Jennifer S. Tang — two medical students at Melbourne’s Monash University — came up with the idea when doing medical training in rural areas of Australia.

“Seeing people travel for hours to access medical care and seeing areas where there just wasn’t the equipment to do a blood test sparked the team to think of a simple and efficient way to screen for anaemia,” Seah says.

Anaemia is a condition where the body doesn’t have enough red blood cells that work properly, according to the World Health Organization. This condition affects 1.6 billion people worldwide and is more common in young children and pregnant women. Severe anaemia can stunt a child’s growth and learning. Untreated anaemia can increase the risk of dying, especially in pregnant women. Anaemia can result in lost wages by reducing work productivity.

Source: Huffington Post (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care, Technology
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healthcare technology