Life4me + 2.0 version will be released this autumn. What should we expect?

Alex Schneider with programmers from the ONLINICO team this week developed a plan for the Life4me+ Application to version 2.0.

The concept was to expand the target audience of the Life4me+ mobile app. The brainstorm resulted in a perspective plan for developing the convenient electronic service for people living with HIV. The app will receive functions aimed to prevent the spread of HIV infection, Hepatitis C and sexually transmitted bacterial infections, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and other STIs.

App users who are at substantial exposure to HIV and substantial risk for HIV acquisition will be provided with information materials about how to prevent HIV transmission in their lives. So men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender men and women, sex workers and drug users will find Life4me+ mobile app very useful.

Users who have recently got positive HIV-test will be provided with an interactive map of HIV clinics, psychological support groups, peer counselors in the app.

PrEP involves taking medication prior to HIV infection for someone who is HIV negative and is at high risk for HIV. With PrEP, you make sure a patient is truly HIV negative and then they take one pill once a day to prevent HIV infection. And they will continue taking PrEP for as long as they remain at high risk for HIV infection and as long as they remain HIV negative.

As these PrEP blog posts have generated a lot of attention, developers decided to implement a set of functions to navigate for PrEP services, PrEP counselors, and pill providers. People on PrEP will also receive a functionality to setup reminders on taking pills on time as well as stay connected online with their doctor or PrEP counselor worldwide. The Life4me+ 2.0 will also be provided with up-to-date information materials on PrEP in an easy and convenient form.

“My test” block will be restructured thanks to our users’ feedback; the tab will get more options and redesigned. To make it easier to manage your medical tests, a new function of grouping the “Tests” will appear: they will become more logical and easy for usage.

The “Tests” tab will also get significant additions:

— Automatic reminder of the necessity to take tests for HIV, STIs, and hepatitis B and C (in case if a user didn’t update these test results for more than 3-4 months);

— The functionality to add Hepatitis C test results, genotype and viral load of Hepatitis C virus;

— The “Drug intake” name will be changed to “Drugs”, adding some new functions for adherence self-tracking. Also, adherence self-tracking function will be implemented in the PrEP module.

“Drugs in stock” section will also be implemented in the “Drugs” tab since many active users utilize this feature frequently. In the Life4me+ 2.0 version users will be able to update “Drugs in stock” in a smart way — there will be provided a “+” button, pressing which will immediately renew the stock of the drug for the next 30 days, eliminating the need to calculate exact dates and figures.

“Appointments” section will also be updated after the developers have examined feedback and recommendations received from active users of the first version of the App. “Appointments” will be transformed and renamed to “Calendar” and will include several functions: “make a blood test,” “appointment,” “vaccination,” “dressing” etc.

Additionally, all users of Life4me+ 2.0 App will be offered to start a Personal Account on www.life4me.plus website. Developers expect that this will increase the accessibility of the App for those users and patients who are unable to use modern smartphones. Anyone who has access to a standard computer (PC) connected to the Internet will be able to use the personal cabinet.

People who do not have a smartphone will also be able to create a Personal Account on their PC. It will be possible to use the mobile version of the Life4me+ App if such users will start using a mobile device in the future like other users and all their data will be synchronized.

In the main “Personal” tab in addition to the forms “Send a message”, “Interruptions” and “Discrimination”, the forms “Side effects” and “Quality of medical care” will be added.

Some minor improvements are expected like “Send a message” button will be renamed to “Application feedback”, automatic notifications will be augmented with STIs, Hepatitis C and other diseases notifications. Users will be able to add a calendar and history of vaccinations, blood group, body temperature, etc.

Finally, the Life4me+ development team will completely redesign the website and App.

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Your Life4me+ team.