Smartphones are increasingly finding an acceptance among the elderly, who no longer find using them complicated. But there is hardly any mobile app that serves them well.

May be things are beginning to happen. There is a new app Dawai Dost that seeks to solve one of the most common problems among senior citizens – to remind them to take their medicines.

Created by an Android developer Aryaman Kunzru, Dawai Dost’s most important part is a voice notification that reminds the user to consume the medicine, in their native language (Hindi and Tamil at the moment, but will feature more languages later).

There are helpful audio tutorials for many of the screens, so that the users have an easy voice-based instruction on what needs to be done at each stage of the date entry, according to a statement.

The app lets the user take a picture of his/her medicine using mobile phone camera, or input the information manually, and a specific time when each needs to be consumed. Once that is done, the app will remind him/her of when the medicines need to be taken, as well as when they are approaching their expiry dates, via text notifications and audio notifications (a voice message recorded in the local language).

Dawai Dost’s initial inspiration came when Aryaman observed the elderly members of his family struggle to use technology and touch screens, things that come as second nature to younger people. He felt that in order to enable the elderly to use modern technology, they needed a different User Experience, which was specially designed for them while developing the app.

Being home to around 104 million people above the age of 60 years, India has a huge population of elderly people with chronic diseases such as dementia and memory loss, who have nobody to look after them. This leads to frequent lapses in consumption of medicines, or consumption post expiry dates, which often cause their conditions to deteriorate. The recent growth in the number of people owning mobile phones in rural India, however, has been a boon, and that is specifically what Dawai Dost has used to its advantage.

Translating literally to “Medicine Friend”, Dawai Dost will be of great use for older people in the country.

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