About the Project
Mobile4D is a student project at the University of Bremen focused on developing humanitarian aid systems for countries in Southeast Asia.
The project started on October 26th, 2012 with the development of a disaster alerting system, which could be used to send and receive information about natural disasters in Laos.
After the implementation of the system for Laos a similar system was built for use in Thailand. The same concepts that were developed previously were re-tailored for the circumstances of Thailand.
Additionally, another app focused on tracking Malaria was developed. The goal of this project was to provide a technical base for a study to understand the spread of Malaria in Thailand's eastern regions located near the Myanmar border.
In a following cycle of the project a similar system was built for the use in Thailand. The same concepts that were developed previously to support disaster relief in Laos were re-tailored for the circumstances of Thailand.
Additionally, another app focused on tracking Malaria was developed. The goal of this project was to provide a technical base for a study to understand the spread of Malaria in Thailand's eastern regions located near the Myanmar border.
In 2019/2020, two new projects were created. One of them focuses on Malaria (Mosquito Sounds) the other on Dengue fever (Dengue Diagnosis).
Dengue fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the dengue virus. Humans get infected when bitten by female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the virus. Official ratings by the WHO estimate that there are between 284 and 528 Mio. cases every year. A nationwide treatment is arduous to accomplish. A vaccine is currently in its testing phase but will be very expensive to use.
Aided by Artificial Intelligence developed in Thailand, the Dengue Diagnosis app will help to accelerate a diagnosis and decrease its cost.
Mosquito Sounds works on identifying mosquitoes by species, sex and possible infection status with diseases such as Malaria or Dengue Fever, since locating and isolating areas with infected mosquitoes has the potential to greatly reduce the spreading of aforementioned diseases.
In 2020/2021 the students of the master project and a student working on her bachelor thesis implemented another two projects: The Dengue Diagnosis Dashboard and the Healthcare Workers app.
The Dashboard focuses on simplifying tasks and workflows in the hospital by digitizing tasks that were otherwise carried out with pen and paper. Examples of these tasks are: checking into the hospital, graphing patient’s vital data and forwarding addresses of the patient to local authorities.
The Healthcare Workers app also aims to simplify workflows and tasks. Addresses that patients with dengue fever visit are forwarded to local health centers. There the healthcare workers carry out different tasks to prevent others from being infected in the area.
In the following year, students of the bachelor project continued the work on the Diagnosis app, the Dashboard and the Healthcare Workers app. Also, two new projects were started: ePro and TM Vax. Both projects consist of two systems working with each other: a web-based dashboard and an app.
ePro uses the dashboard to create fully customizable surveys that can be started at a scheduled timeframe. In the app, a user is notified that they need to complete the survey. The aim of this system is to carry out medical surveys more easily.
TM Vax offers a system to digitize vaccinations. The dashboard is used to create patient accounts with which users of the app can then log in. Once logged in, the user can scan QR codes when they get vaccinated and thus track their vaccination status.
One day all the systems described above will hopefully help healthcare workers in rural areas, medical staff as well as research regarding viral diseases in general. We are cooperating with BIOPHICS, the faculty for tropical medicine, the Mahidol University and the Hospital for tropical diseases in Bangkok.
Mobile4D is carried out as a teaching project within the International Lab for Local Capacity Building (Capacity Lab). The Capacity Lab aims at reducing poverty in developing countries by researching into methods, algorithms and systems to support capacity building at a local level.