Female students invent an app that detects vaginal bacteria

bacteria app detector

A group of five female students from Makerere University in Uganda have successfully created a test kit connected to a smartphone app that is able to detect harmful vaginal bacteria that cause bacterial vaginosis and other infections.

In a video posted to YouTube, the team known as Team Code Gurus explain exactly how they created the app. The test kit, known as Her Health BVKit, consists of hardware and software application.

The hardware is the actual test kit that connects to the smartphone app via Bluetooth. By placing a urine or vaginal discharge sample onto the kit, PH values can be sent to the application.

The app then interprets whether the user has healthy or unhealthy amounts of vaginal bacteria. If there are unhealthy levels of bacteria present, the application recommends that the user seeks medical attention and indicates where their nearest doctor or clinic is.

The team’s programmer, Ndagire Esther explains that the team would like to work with NGOs and other health facilities to supply rural women with the kit:

“We plan on marketing our application through NGOs, clinics and pharmacies. We hope the NGOs can help us reach rural areas where women who don’t have the opportunity to test their bacteria will be able to use our application.”

She goes on to explain that the idea is to make the hardware and software to make it easy to use and widely available for women to test themselves every month for harmful bacteria that could indicate infection.

The application could bring hope to a country where health knowledge and accessibility remains a challenge. Despite the declining HIV rates in Uganda, there is still much work to do when it comes to sexual health.

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