The spread of Ebola has been a constant fear among the international community. In a bid to try and abate the spread of the disease, health officials are launching the #isurvivedebola app as part of a wider media campaign called #TackleEbola. The app allows survivors of the Ebola outbreak to share stories about the challenges and hardships they faced while combating this deadly disease and aims to put a human face on the condition. Survivors in the past have been stigmatized, which the campaign hopes to eliminate and cast these figures as heroes who may allow for better leadership in the community to fight the spread.

As well as sharing stories, the app would also collect data to allow health personnel to better treat this condition. It is hoped that by spreading key information about the condition via various channels, the campaign can achieve the critical task of stopping the outbreak from spreading further.  “As the global UN lead for the Social Mobilization Pillar of the Ebola response in West Africa, UNICEF is at the helm of efforts to stop transmission by working with national governments and partners to educate the public in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea about how to protect themselves, their families, and their communities from the virus. #ISurvivedEbola is reinforcing our efforts by providing this information in multiple, highly entertaining forms, including through the testimonies of actual survivors,” commented an UNICEF spokesperson in the media release 

A company founded by two medical students at Monash University in Melbourne have found an interesting use of taking a photograph of yourself, which is otherwise colloquially known as a ‘selfie’. The team used the data from the image to analyse the conjunctiva of the subject via an app and compare against a database to assess the risk of anaemia.

The team hopes that their solution will help in the diagnosis and treatment of the 2 billion people in the world that suffer from anaemia.

Their ingenious application of this modern trend has caught the attention of many people, including that of Bill Gates, who recently wrote about the project on his blog. The pair have also won numerous awards for their innovation.

So the next time you are at your medical clinic, you may have to take a selfie for medical reasons!

Source: http://www.eyenaemia.com/presskit.html