Dubai: Health innovations to move the community towards wellness and smart apps to teach children the importance of dental hygiene and hydration are among the many highlights that marked the opening day of the Dubai Health Authority’s Innovation Week celebrations.

The three-day event is being held at the Innovation Hub at the Burj Park at downtown Dubai and concludes on November 26.

Humaid Al Qutami, the director general of DHA, inaugurating the event, said it aims to educate residents on the importance of leading an active lifestyle and having balanced meals to improve their overall sense of well-being.

The event showcased gadgets that monitor sleep patterns, heart health, physical fitness levels, among other health aspects.

A fun and information app for children based on hydration and called ‘Tummy Fish’ was revealed on the occasion. Explaining the app, Dr Wafa Ayesh, head of clinical nutrition at DHA, said, “This app, devised by a team of nutritionists, is meant for children aged 4-6 years and it is also linked to the Year of Reading [2016]. It is based on the art of storytelling and tells the story of a fish living in the ocean having healthy food. The child can chose one fish, give it its name and the mother can download the app and set timings for her child to drink water. Every time the child drinks water, he earns a star and he can see on the app his personalised fish looking happy and hydrated. But every time the child has a sugary drink, the fish looks sad and sick. This visual [input] encourages the child to drink more water and avoid sugary drinks even as it helps the parent monitor the child’s water intake. Every time a child reaches a goal, a small game unlocks as a reward for him to play.”

Similarly, the Rashid Hospital’s cardiology centre displayed an innovative gadget called Reveal that can be implanted for nearly 2-3 years subcutaneously on a person’s chest and which will monitor the patient’s heart health.

Dr Khalid Mohammad Omran, cardiologist from the hospital, explained: “Arrythmia or irregular heart beat is a precursor to many kinds of cardiovascular diseases and also strokes and it is sometimes very difficult to detect. But once this device is placed on the patient, the heart monitoring centre gets a 24/7 feedback from the patient’s heart movement and the moment doctors detect an irregular heart beat, they can call in the patient for examination and treat him in time.”

DHA also displayed pedometers that will be placed in parks and other public places for people to pedal to remain active even while remaining stationary.

To encourage physical activity, DHA also has a project to place stationary bicycles in workplaces or parks where people can engage in competitions and race against one another.

Other innovations on display are a special sleep lab unit at the sleep laboratory in Rashid Hospital where a patient can check in at night to enable tracking of information about his sleep patterns and get them monitored by experts to detect irregular sleeping patterns or sleep apnoea. These conditions are precursors to serious health issues such as hypertension, palpitation, snoring and even asphyxiation due to breathlessness during sleep, said Dr Esra Mohammad, sleep coordinator from the sleep laboratory at Rashid Hospital.

Residents can view the innovations at the Innovation hub from 10am-10pm in Burj Park until November 26.