A Whanganui-developed phone and computer app that promises to warn parents if their children develop obesity or other specific health problems, launches today.
Whanganui doctor Moazzam Zaidi is urging parents to record their children's vital health stats using the app, eGrowth, which is available free worldwide. Dr Zaidi is a senior occupational and environmental medicine consultant working at MidCentral Health and for ACC.
The eGrowth monitoring system records regular measurements of a child's height and weight in order to document growth. The measurements are then plotted on a growth chart to assess if the growth is within the normal range.
"eGrowth monitoring plays an important role to assess the early development and growth of a child because it can help in early detection of several potential health problems such as obesity or malnutrition," Dr Zaidi said.
Ministry of Health statistics show obesity to be a problem among 11 per cent of New Zealand children. While malnutrition is less of a concern, rates in developing countries can be high and the app will be promoted in those regions also.
eGrowth includes several features including detailed individualised growth charts and relevant health information, immunisation records, calculators, and it will store photographs showing a child's development over time. A nominal charge exists for storage of more than five photographs.
eGrowth is not just for parents and clinicians, but has an appeal for the wider family, including grandparents, Dr Zaidi said.
"This is a unique application for grandparents and extended families to keep track of their grandchildren and whanau as well as reminding the parents to take the height and weight measurements at the proper time.
"We encourage all parents and the extended family to use this app to keep records of their children's height and weight on a regular basis."
He said the photo album will not only be a historical record of the child's development but will enable healthcare providers once the child has grown to have a look back into the history of the developmental features throughout from birth to adulthood.
He developed the app alongside two Wellington friends, Imran Zafar and Muhammad Awan, who have business and IT backgrounds.
Dr Zaidi said the idea came to him after he had trouble keeping records of his own children's growth statistics.
"I'd write them down on tissue paper, backs of photos, that sort of thing. And of course I lost them. The app makes it easy to keep all that information in one place and that is easy to use."
Mr Zafar said a phone app was an appropriate platform for promotion to developing countries where smartphone ownership was high. It can be downloaded from the Google Play store for Android devices or from www.egrowthmonitoring.com for PCs.
An iPhone version is in development as are several more advanced features.