SAM PHOTO application by Action Against Hunger wins gold at the Webby Awards for best humanitarian action
A potentially life-saving new application for detecting acute child malnutrition has been awarded this year's Gold Anthem Prize for Best Humanitarian Action. Developed by the international non-profit organization Action Against Hunger, the tool has the potential to change the way the world screens millions of children for malnutrition. It allows community health workers to accurately detect the deadliest form of hunger, severe acute malnutrition, with just one photo.
“Every day, more than 2,000 children die from hunger-related causes, making technological innovation in innovative solutions to end malnutrition more urgent than ever. In general, in places where hunger is deadly, diagnoses of malnutrition can be slow, if they are available at all. Current detection methods are time-consuming and inaccurate, but in addition, health workers have to lug around cumbersome scales and heavy charts to great heights from village to village,” says Amador Gómez, R&D&I director at Action Against Hunger.
The mobile application allows for a much more effective diagnosis and means that health workers no longer have to carry heavy tables and high beacons from village to village. © Fardosa Hussein/ Acción contra el Hambre
In order to provide health workers with effective tools to identify malnutrition more quickly and accurately, the new mobile application from Action Against Hunger enables community health workers to accurately detect severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the most deadly form of hunger in children, with just one photo. The application uses body scanning technology and morphological techniques to compare scans of a potentially malnourished child with those of a healthy child. It eliminates human error and provides a faster, more accurate and more detailed diagnosis of the child's nutritional status.
Action Against Hunger has conducted pilots in Senegal, launched the program in Guatemala, and plans to expand it to India by mid-2023. Worldwide, it is estimated that 75% of acutely malnourished children in need of treatment cannot access it, despite the fact that the extremely cost-effective treatments have a cure rate of over 90%.
Designed for poor rural areas with no internet connection, low literacy levels and widespread use of Android phones, the app is faster, simpler and more accurate than the current standard of medical care.
“We are very grateful to the Anthem Awards for highlighting the growing challenge of child hunger and for recognizing our years of work in developing a better way to diagnose malnutrition,” said Laura Medialdea Marcos, Action Against Hunger Research Project Coordinator and promoter of this innovative approach.
ABOUT THE WEBBY AWARDS
The Webby Awards are the leading international awards for excellence on the Internet, including websites, video, advertising, media and public relations, applications, mobile and voice, social networks, podcasts and games. Created in 1996, the Webby Awards received more than 13,500 nominations from 70 countries around the world this year. The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS).
ABOUT THE ANTHEM AWARD
Launched in 2021 by The Webby Awards, the Anthem Awards honor the purpose-driven work of individuals, companies and organizations from around the world. The 2023 edition of the Anthem Awards received almost 2,000 projects from 43 countries around the world. The Anthem Awards recognize work carried out in seven main causes: Humanitarian Action; Diversity; Equality and Inclusion; Education; Art and Culture; Health; Human and Civil Rights; Responsible Technology; and Sustainability, Environment and Climate.
