Turning mobile into a first ever COPD self-testing tool in wechat – China’s most popular messaging platform. The volume of breath blown into the microphone of a mobile produced a soundwave. Using the height of that soundwave, we worked out an algorithm to arrive at a figure represented by a tree.The size of the tree represents the user’s approximate lung volume. If the result < 70%, a hospital check-up is recommended

By collaborating with a Pulmonologist and a popular Chinese blowing-ink artist, we made this tree interesting to share on social media to encourage more people to take the test.

GSK - Glaxo Smith Kline has sponsored this effort. Ethical Pharmaceutical brands are not allowed to release any branded patient communication. China has a heavily regulated healthcare model delivered mostly through public hospitals and thus quantitative records of patients are not available in public domain.

A sufferer between 40 to 70 years unaware of COPD and even reluctant to test at hospital. Majority of COPD sufferers in China are undiagnosed. Thus a simple self-testing tool on a smart phone can encourage them to test and go for a hospital check-up if prompted.

Situation: COPD is a progressive irreversible condition. It is the 3rd largest cause of death in China. Smoking, second hand smoke and pollution are the main contributors to this ever growing threat in China. 1 out of 3 smokers of the world live in China and about 100000 people die every year due to second hand smoke. China has alarming environmental pollution due to mass scale industrialization. Thus the burden of COPD is immense due to low disease awareness with inadequate lung function tests for diagnosis and treatment. Amongst an estimated 100 million sufferers, < 30% are not even aware of COPD.

Brief: Increase awareness for self-testing to prompt early detection

Objective: Develop a simple to use self-testing tool that fits in their daily lifestyle to ensure early detection.

The studies conducted on Chinese population demonstrate a poor disease awareness, late detection and lack of initiative in getting detected due to cumbersome process at public hospitals. Thus encouraging self-testing was driven by the need for simplicity. Thus a simple self-testing tool was developed to encourage a test that would prompt the user to go for a check-up if required. This is the first self-testing tool developed for COPD housed on WeChat – China’s most popular messaging platform. With an etstimated 100 million COPD sufferers in China, this self-testing tool is expected to save an entire COPD generation from being late in treatment and thus not being able to Breathe Life, the way they want to.

The data collected would be used to encourage more sufferers to use this tool for testing as the sharing would encourage people to adop a simple way of knowing and then getting treated

This self-testing tool was launched on 13th Apr,2019 on the wechat platform. Till April end, already it has registered more than10 thousand clicks.

This self-testing tool was launched on 13th Apr,2019 on the wechat platform. Till April end, already it has registered more than10 thousand clicks.