The problem

Each person in the think tank was responsible for creating a product that addressed the issue of diabetes management by the end of our 6 month contract. Being in a think tank though, we all were able to collaborate on the research, even though each of our individual projects were drastically different. Having access to other research allowed for numerous perspectives of the problem, even if it was not directly related to one’s project. Our projects ranged from a fashion jewelry health notification tool, to a child’s game that would incorporate their blood sugar levels and encourage them to test regularly by gaining special features when they did test, to my project that broke molds by finding a link between HIV and diabetes which led to a phone app and phone case/tester being developed.

The mobile app will allow users to get their readings after testing. Some of the features include rewards, a calendar that can show in detail of day to day averages, and notifications to let the user know they need to test. The app is designed to be used by a person with diabetes and HIV, just diabetes, or just HIV. With the dual purpose strips that test the glucose and viral load levels, a person with just HIV or HIV and diabetes is able to monitor their health. The importance of checking one's glucose levels if they only have HIV is to tell if their ART treatment is working properly. If one were to see a consistent increase in glucose levels, this could be an indication that their ART treatment needs to be changed. There is an option in the app to only show the glucose levels which is utilized by a person with just diabetes