Medicines Identification for African Illiterate Patients Using Near Field Communication

Mahlaku Mareli, Suvendi Rimer, Babu Sean Paul, Khmaies Ouahada

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper presents the application of Near Field Communication (NFC) to the healthcare sector. Although a number of papers have been written to discuss different NFC applications in the healthcare sector, none of them address the potential challenges facing illiterate patients worldwide. According to UNESCO institute for statistics, the Sub-Saharan African region has the highest percentage of illiterate people compared to other regions in the world. NFC can be used in conjunction with other technologies, especially mobile communications which provide high data speeds at cheap rates. The proposed NFC application consists of a NFC sticker placed on the medicine container, the NFC phone with an Android application that reads the sticker ID, connects to a Medicine Information Server and retrieves relevant instructions for medicine in audio form. Some of the advantages for this solution are that the NFC stickers can be recycled.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicatione-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries - 5th International Conference, AFRICOMM 2013, Revised Selected Papers
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages121-129
Number of pages9
ISBN (Print)9783319083674
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Event5th International Conference on e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries, AFRICOMM 2013 - Blantyre, Malawi
Duration: 25 Nov 201327 Nov 2013

Publication series

NameLecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, LNICST
Volume135 LNICST
ISSN (Print)1867-8211

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries, AFRICOMM 2013
Country/TerritoryMalawi
CityBlantyre
Period25/11/1327/11/13

Keywords

  • 3G
  • EDGE
  • Electronic health records
  • GPRS
  • Mutual inductance
  • NFC

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications

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