A team of Mozambican innovators will be taking part in VivaTech, Europe’s largest technology fair, with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technological solution that promises to revolutionise the health sector in Mozambique and other regions with similar challenges.
The eighth edition of VivaTech, which runs from 22 to 25 May, will bring together leading global entities in innovation and technology, with thousands of participants from all over the world.
Mozambique will be represented by Startup GALENICA.ai, which will present the technological solution called ‘APOIO’ – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) HealthBot developed as part of a partnership between Mozambicans and a company specialising in AI/ML based in the United States of America.
Designed to respond to the complex challenges related to access to human, material and infrastructural resources in the health sector in Africa, APOIO provides access to information and responds to the various health needs, be they physical, emotional or mental, of its users and/or their families, with the potential to improve the health of populations. The app offers interactive and personalised analyses of the various symptoms and pathologies, referring the patient to a doctor whenever necessary.
According to a press release, using only the mobile phone’s camera, APOIO can measure the patient’s vital signs, assessing blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen levels. SUPPORT also provides special help for young people and teenagers in terms of well-being, addressing mental health issues and combating sexually transmitted diseases.
It is a solution that has the power to minimise the pressure placed on health facilities, while facilitating access to 24-hour healthcare, especially for Mozambicans who live kilometres away from professional medical help.
According to the co-founder of GALENICA.ai, Gerry Marketos, APOIO does not replace the conventional health system, since users can also book virtual and face-to-face appointments with health professionals through it.
‘The app was developed to help countries with health services that face difficulties, such as limited access to medical facilities and low public awareness of preventive health. The role of SUPPORT is not to replace the National Health System or the medical profession, but to support and complement them. Its job is to provide access to information and advice on home treatments and to liaise between users and health professionals,’ said Marketos.
‘With a rapidly growing population, a vast country and an overburdened healthcare system, the demand for basic health information, assessment and advice on treatments at home, where applicable, is high and growing. The challenge is to help users who lack knowledge and who need access to information to prevent a small problem from becoming serious,’ said Marketos, adding that APOIO even has the ability to understand and organise texts that have spelling mistakes because they were written in a state of agony or distress on the part of the writer.
In addition to the written component, APOIO also has an oral function, allowing users to ask questions via the mobile phone’s microphone. The app also responds in audio, via a mechanism for reading out the answer, suitable for Portuguese and English. It is hoped that, with the effective implementation of the technology in the country, more languages will be integrated into the application.