In response to the NMU Centre for Community Technologies’ (CCT) call for a technical solution to promote cancer awareness and prevention, NTT DATA combined its global reach and expertise with Outsystems’ cutting-edge app development to create a first-of-its-kind application.
Responding to the prevalence of certain cancer types in the Eastern Cape, the CCT posed the challenge of creating a technical solution to raise awareness and aid prevention efforts. Partnering with the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), the CCT used the Build for the Future Hackathon to challenge NTT DATA to build this solution.
With this context in mind, the app was specifically designed with six core capabilities:
To ensure users from a wide range of backgrounds are able to use the app with ease, the navigation is intuitive and easy to understand. Illustrations have been carefully crafted and colours kept neutral to ensure all users can identify with the UI.
As one of the key aims of the app was to encourage engagement, the developers added a gamification feature to clearly demonstrate the user’s progress.
Several accessibility features were built into the app, including text-background contrast, text-to-speech, and colour palettes chosen to aid the colour blind.
Animations were designed to visualise self-examinations without the need for lengthy explanations.
The app supports multiple languages to reflect the linguistic diversity of the region: Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, and English.
To reach communities without access to the internet, the app was designed to be fully usable without connection.
Michele Biron, Director at NTT DATA UK&I, commented: “At NTT DATA, we’re passionate about forming partnerships that enable technology solutions for the good of society. We were honoured to be a part of this important project to increase cancer awareness amongst those communities within the Eastern Cape that need the most support. We strongly believe that integrating cutting-edge technology solutions can improve healthcare worldwide and C-VIVE is a shining example of this belief.”