Walter Sisulu University (WSU) lecturers have partnered with the institution’s computer science honours degree students to develop the world’s first mobile oesophageal cancer screening application.
The Oesophageal Cancer Screening (ECAS) is a collaborative project between WSU, the University of Venda (Univen) and John Hopkins University in the United States. The medical innovation was a two-part project with phase one looking at the performance and security of the app with the assistance of the first group students.
“The research shows that the app is secured, and it also has many features that accommodate the type of network that we have in rural areas. In places where there is no network, the app information is stored locally on the cellphone so a person can still use it offline,” said information technology lecturer, Tamba Tamba.
On the second part of the project, the students focused on the useability of the app, scrutinising colours, fonts and accessibility to different people.
“Oesophageal cancer is a silent disease. It has no symptoms and the minute you start feeling pain, the cancer is already at an advanced stage. As much as it is silent, it is also an aggressive disease,” said Professor Eugene Ndebia. Ndebia further suggested that the best way to manage the disease is early detection so that interventions can be made to save the patient.
Oesophageal cancer has two types. The first type is the squamous cell carcinoma. This type of oesophageal cancer starts in squamous cells that line the oesophagus. It usually develops in the upper and middle part of the oesophagus; it is the common oesophageal cancer in the Eastern Cape.
The second type, adenocarcinoma, begins in the glandular tissue in the lower part of the oesophagus, where the oesophagus and the stomach come together.
“All other cancers have screening apps and have ways to be tested. One such case is cervical cancer which can be tested through pap smear, but oesophageal cancer has nothing. Our application will be the first in the world. We will use technology to save the world,” added Ndebia.
The ECAS application is available for download on Google Playstore and people can use it at the comfort of their homes.
“It is high time that our researchers focus on the diseases that are bothering us as people. Back when I was still a medical student in Durban, most oesophageal cancer patients came from the Eastern Cape,” said WSU faculty of health sciences dean, Professor Jabu Mbokazi.
Mbokazi added that the secret to managing all cancers is early detection and that in some instances it can even be cured. He also said he hoped the app would be able to detect oesophageal cancer in its early stages so that patients can get help before the disease gets out of control.
“Being at WSU and being in the rural areas is a great place for research. Most funds are sent to places like Cape Town, although the burden of diseases is here in the Eastern Cape. If we could get those funds we would do more,” concluded Mbokazi.
Univen faculty of human social sciences and education executive dean, Prof Bongani Bantwini, reflected on the days where he used to work in the United States as a professor. Bantwini said he discovered that in Africa people died of diseases that do not kill people in other parts of the globe because academics speak a language that is not understood by people affected by the diseases.
“We are going to translate the findings into different languages so that it is not only understood by academics, but by communities as well. If you do research that will not be beneficial to the community then what is the point of conducting that research,” said Bantwini.
He added that in his faculty there are different languages that are being taught, including sign language, and that they are going to translate the findings as best as they can to leave no community left out.
WSU senior lecturer in sociology, Dr Nelly Sharpley, said, “The aim for us is not just do to research as WSU and Univen but to do research that has an impact in translating the objectives of a healthy society and also speaking to development in our provinces and communities.”
The application is still going to be translated to different African languages through the partnership to make it accessible to all.
