febrile

febrile is a public health application and web platform for individuals with fever that enables the detection of communicable diseases and outbreaks.

Samantha Al Awar, L.D., MPH 

Founder and Director 

Laying bare the inadequacies of health systems, COVID-19 swept the world in the year 2020 highlighting the global hollowness of health systems, poor collaborative governance and economic precarity of basic health strategies. Weakness in early identification and immediate response strategies to communicable diseases, is causing countries all over the world to carry heavy burdens from outbreaks of even the mildest diseases. In 2020, the European Parliamentary Research Service estimated the total value of losses incurred by a global influenza pandemic, could reach about US$500 billion per year, about 0.6 % of global income. Additionally, most countries lack early warning systems for disease outbreaks at the community level, placing them at a critical spot when faced with any pandemic. In Lebanon, health systems lack governed interfacility coordination and the country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Thereby, centralizing healthcare at the tertiary level, which can be inappropriate, unnecessary and unduly expensive. Since many root causes of disease lie beyond the control of the health facilities, febrile mobile application and web platform aims to serve communities an interoperable digital system to ensure equitable access to patient-centered counseling and guidance across different levels of care by empowering sustainable and decentralized healthcare strategies.

Fever is one symptom that can be witnessed by all individuals regardless of their age, sex, location, nationality, race, financial status, etc. Febrile individuals are generally acutely ill patients who are concerned about their diagnosis, course of disease, and recommendations. In our solution, febrile mobile application and web platform will be providing all febrile patients with equal level of care, regardless of any of the above mentioned specifications. Patients will be provided appropriate case specific medical counseling, appropriate guidance, in addition to a wide variety of trusted multilingual and up to date medical and scientific information, educational videos and research feeds, and a Q&A section to answer their concerns. Patients will also have the option to request in-person evaluations and Telehealth visits, and monitoring equipment. For the pediatric and geriatric population, parents and/or legal guardians, will have the option to fill the patients assessment forms. Special considerations will be given to patients with mobility and physical disabilities. Another specific consideration will be given to residents of urban and rural areas, and those who lack spontaneous patient centered counseling and guidance, through active listening and frequent Telehealth visits in addition to periodic needs assessment questionnaires.

febrile application and web platform provide patients with fever (refugees, parents, patients with physical disability, disconnected communities etc.) and local authorities open access to

Adding to this "febrile" provides spontaneous free of charge access to:

1. Secured Patient-centered approach for evaluation and guidance across all levels of care anytime anywhere.

2. Free of charge telehealth visits, video calls and chat.

3. Trusted medical and public health information, educational videos and updates to increase health awareness, promote good health practices and counter false information.

4. Deliverable inventory, where free of charge assessment tools readily available in localities are accessible to all especially to disconnected communities.

5. Disease alert and outbreak alarming GIS system to help track cases and enforce proper measures instantly.

febrile targets the ill and concerned individuals with fever. The implication of our solution will directly impact those patients, through providing them with differential diagnosis, medical counseling and appropriate recommendations. This allows more patients to receive professional and equitable healthcare services at home, cut costs for both patients and providers, improve prognosis, shorten the course of illness, and alleviate symptoms. Our intervention will also directly impact patients' families through the recommendations given to decrease spread among them. On another hand, the medical and scientific information provided through our application, will boost individuals' knowledge and allow the spread of accurate news in the community.

Additionally communities especially in rural areas will benefit from the deliverable inventory which increases public trust and encourages supply chain visibility and promotes good health governance.

In addition to that, the ability of our immediate response strategies to prevent outbreaks of communicable diseases and spillovers, will indirectly impact the general population by optimizing resources and decreasing the country's economic burden and avoiding additional strain on an overwhelmed health care system by preventing unnecessary visits to emergency departments and tertiary care. Additionally, our platforms will acquire a huge database of statistics that could impact epidemiological and medical research.

Motivated to provide and improve public health outcomes and emphasize good governance in our communities, Stay Safe implemented "febrile" mobile application and web platform to help spread better health deliverables and refine peoples’ health which would impact millions of lives around the world.

In the first year we will be building the software and technology behind "febrile" application and platform, afterwards we will be launching it in the lebanese community targeting a specific number of municipalities through allocating given resources to reach the target across a year. 

For year two and three further, we’ll reach all the municipalities in Lebanon (1005 municipality) in parallel with other countries, such as the US,with additional mass media campaigns to spread the awareness among end-users. Further medical staff shall be assigned with the growth of users as well as other assets.

There are several indicators to measure, monitor, and evaluate the services offered by "febrile" application and web platform. 

Indicators include but not limited to:

• Number of users and municipalities reached and intervened. 

• Number of identified highly contagious diseases and contained outbreaks upon the analytics and diagnostics produced serving the major application’s purpose. 

• The evaluation done by the backend users of the application administrators when collecting the reports of professionals undergoing the online consultation to users through online chat, video calls, or in person evaluation for patients. 

• The inventory manifest of deliverable assessment tools submitted and collected from and to users for health monitoring which is a keen indicator to the reliability and connectivity established between the application and the users.

• The satisfaction of the users with the services provided by the application through in-app feedback forms and questionnaire and of course app rating in iOS App Store and Google Play Store.

There are 3 main challenges for our solution which can be overcomed easily if tackled correctly.

The financial challenge is the most important obstacle which requires cash flow and financial resources in order to cover both technological and human labor expenses in the coming 3 years which is estimated to be around 202,210 GBP. This issue can be covered by applying for grants and getting support by fundraising and donations.

The second challenge is cultural. Due to the lack of trust of the human mind to technology when it comes to medical health, where patients might not trust the guidance of a mobile application. However, with the help of awareness videos and in-app online support with professionals, our solution shall earn the trust of patients from the first experience.

The third and final challenge lies in the application policy concerned with Geo Detection and tracing, in which it might be a case of privacy insecurity. Nevertheless, consent and clarification of terms and conditions will be stated during registration indicating that the location services will be used only during registration and in the case of detecting infectious diseases.

Currently, Stay Safe is not formally affiliated with or working for any organization. 

We believe that our solution provides a meaningful collaboration, and committed action to better prepare for health emergencies.

Our main challenge is finding the funding source to bring our application into life and put it at the disposal of health authorities and communities in Lebanon and abroad. Despite the urgent necessity to increase public health funding, this sector in Lebanon is still facing a huge challenge in terms of resources as it is expected to receive a reduction in the budget due the economic and financial crisis in Lebanon. This puts huge pressure on the public health professionals and results in diminishing the health services of the Lebanese people. We strongly believe that given this situation, the burden will undeniably fall on the private sector and NGOs. The Trinity Challenge provides us hope and contributes to a better health and well-being of people in Lebanon and other countries. We understand our role, our value and the impact that we can make in our community if given the chance to do so.

Given the nature of our solution, we’ve selected some organizations be it multinational or local,  public or private that can help us achieve our objectives. Starting with Solve, the organization that we’re applying to, who we consider to be a great added-value in terms of technical experience and guidance in finetuning key elements of our proposal. On the technical side, we consider Siemens as a potential partner who can help us advance our application to the next level with Artificial Intelligence. On the local level, we will certainly partner with the local authorities (Lebanon) to support in releasing and enforcing public health laws and policies as well as the awareness campaigns circulation. Also, Top schools (IC, Lycee Nationale, Sagesse etc.) and Top universities (AUB, LAU, USJ, UOB etc.) in Lebanon will have a huge role in spreading awareness across students who constitute the most impactful and key part of the community. Local and International Fever clinics and specialists are selected for credibility and exposure. And at last, we have in mind research facilities and journals that will lead to advancement in health and medical research.