‘Veta’, a mobile App to inform users of diseases in your location
While in recent times Sri Lanka has been on red alert over diseases such as Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika with widespread public warnings, a new mobile app called ‘Veta’ has been created that informs people about the diseases reported within a specific radius of the location of any mobile phone that is in use. App developers Pradeepan Somasundaram and Malitta Nanayakkara, in an interview, explained to the Business Times the objective of this useful app. Mr. Somasundaram said, “Veta, a tech startup is aimed at addressing the ever-growing issue of vector-borne diseases such as Dengue and Zika.
To put things in perspective, within the first eight months of this year alone over 38,000 cases of Dengue have been reported.” Furthermore, since the identical mosquito spreads both Dengue and Zika, the emerging disease Zika could pose a significant risk to Sri Lanka as well. According to health authorities, eradication of mosquito breeding habitats is considered to be the single most factor in limiting the spread of these diseases, he added. The app has a set of interesting features that can address general public disinterest towards the issue and negligence, together considered to be the biggest contributors to mosquito breeding sites.
It allows individuals to set locations that are frequently used such as home, office or child’s school. Along with these frequented locations, users can also set an alert radius from 0.5 to 5 km across which the set locations need to be monitored for cases. The app also allows users to report cases along with the incident location and this in turn will serve as an alert to other users in close proximity to that location. The benefit of the app is that it will enable users to exercise greater vigilance and take extra safeguards in any location that has a relatively higher number of reported incidents. By making it personal, Veta believes that people will start taking mosquito breeding sites more seriously, before it impacts one’s own family, noted Mr. Somasundaram.
He also stated that with an intuitively understandable design that allows new users to easily navigate the app and instantly figure out how to use it, even simple users of Smartphones will be able to comfortably use the app. “Given that one mosquito breeding site in one household can impact an entire neighbourhood, every citizen of this country has a moral responsibility to strive towards zero mosquito breeding sites in their houses, offices and public places. Only by doing so we can protect ourselves, our families, our neighbours and most of all our future generations from such deadly diseases,” stressed Mr. Somasundaram.
The app is available for Android and iOS devices to the Sri Lankan public and can be viewed on Veta’s website www.veta.life. A user can login using facebook, twitter, google plus or email. Mr. Nanayakkara stated that a thorough check of one’s profile is done before he or she reports the spread of a disease from a particular location, before it’s been confirmed and then informed to the public on the app. This location-based app can give a lot of information to the government to gather data and statistics and take necessary precautions to eradicate the spread of vector-borne diseases at a specific location, he noted.