It is well known that children do not like to go to the doctor. In fact, it can be a stressful and even traumatic process for them.
As a general rule, they associate it with white coats, needles, cold and hostile stethoscopes… in short, for them health is synonymous with suffering.
However, three Catalan doctors have created ‘, a lollipop that collects a saliva sample of the child after eating it and allows rapid detection of diseases such as celiac disease or hypercholesterolemia, among others.
This project has been presented in the second edition of , which has brought together different entrepreneurs and experts from the world of health to make ideas and projects visible that aim to improve the health of minors.
And it is that the possibilities offered by the digital environment can be a great ally when it comes to accelerating the prevention, diagnosis and monitoring of pathologies of children.
Since, on many occasions, the pediatric patient is treated as a small adult and there are no techniques and treatments designed for them.
How does The Smart Lollipop work?
Its operation is simple to the eyes of a child: it has to eat a lollipop for about three minutes (which does not contain protein or gluten) without throwing away the stick that supports it.
It collects the saliva sample that will be used to detect a pathology through microfluidic channels that determine a quantitative diagnosis in ten minutes.
“The results are digitized in a similar way to a pregnancy or antigen test”, summarizes Diana Ballart, CEO and co-founder of ‘The Smart Lollipop’. For the minors, she says, it’s like doing magic.
“With smart candy, not only is the experience of patients and doctors improved, replacing an invasive test such as a blood test; it also promotes the prevention of diseases and the digitization of medicine,” explains Ballart.
The tests allow for the moment detect hypercholesterolemia and celiac diseasebut the goal is to add more diagnostic lines by 2025.
The promoters of this initiative have revealed the possibility that, in the future, ‘The Smart Lollipop’ could be present in the pharmacywhere it would be possible to collect the necessary saliva sample and obtain the results in a matter of minutes.
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“It can be used without the need for much training and can be easily transported to reach underdeveloped countries,” adds Ballart.
In addition, although the target of ‘The Smart Lollipop’ are the children from two yearsThey do not rule out expanding the product for adult or elderly patients.
And it is that the startup has achieved an invention so revolutionary that it has received the first prize from , some awards promoted by a pediatric innovation platform coordinated from (Barcelona).
On the other hand, this lollipop has been selected by Unicef Lab and ISDI (Higher Institute for Internet Development) as one of the best social projects to generate a positive impact on children and adolescents, in Spain and the world.
Pediatric innovation in ophthalmology
In this showcase of innovation in pediatric health, a new way of diagnosing in ophthalmologysince visual assessment in non-verbal patients remains a great challenge.
To help in this work, they have created Dive Medical. Mabel Gimeno, CEO and founder, explained that it is a screen with Artificial Intelligence for rapid and accurate diagnosis of visual function.
It allows to evaluate visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, oculomotor control, color perception and distant visual acuity from 6 months of age.
State-of-the-art dermatology
It is as difficult to diagnose in this area as it is to do it in Dermatology and before this task appears .
The bet, which its founder Andy Aguilar has presented, can be the great ally of the specialist and, also, of the waiting lists.
With a kind of ‘photo’ with dermatological artificial intelligence taken by the patient himself, the doctor can monitor the pathology and adjust the treatment.
In this way, times are shortened and the patient can receive care at the optimal time. It also allows Primary Care doctors to screen skin lesions to define whether or not referral is necessary.
Application for the sleep of the little ones
And finally, given the reality that many parents experience who are not able to fall asleep in the first months (or years) of their children, la is presented as their best ally.
This application, in which a team of paediatricians and psychologists works, allows to make a baby sleep tracking and come up with a plan to get the little one to sleep through the night.
In addition, it offers the mother the help she needs in real time by contacting specialists in Psychology by chat.
Ignacio Valledor, CEO of the company, has detailed that it is a well-being guide for parents and even allows managing household chores to take care of the mental and physical health of parents, so it also includes their own breaks.