A team from Tunisia developed an app called M-Health Discovery that uses text messages and data mining to diagnose epidemics and advise patients. They are participating in the Sirius Programme in Newcastle, UK to develop a pilot of their app and access mentors and investors. Their app has potential to help millions suffering from diseases like malaria by detecting epidemics early and advising patients on treatment.

1. Published December 2014
by UK Trade & Investment
© Crown Copyright
Fast facts
Company: M-Health Discovery
Sector: Big Data
Country of origin: Tunisia
Investment location: Newcastle
UKTI service: Sirius Programme
www.mhealthtool.com
Big data set
to make a big
difference
M-Health Discovery is one
of the latest companies to
win a place on the Sirius
Programme. The team chose
the UK to develop the pilot
for its epidemic diagnostic
app, due to its reputation as
one of the best healthcare
sectors in the world. M-Health
is currently based at the
Ignite business accelerator in
Newcastle, making the most
of all the resources the UK has
to offer. The application has
the potential to improve health
advice for millions of people
around the world suffering
from health epidemics.
A team of entrepreneurs from Tunisia
has developed a mobile analytics
service to diagnose epidemics and
advise patients about how to get
treatment. By simply sending a text
message describing their symptoms,
the patient connects with M-Health
Discovery’s intelligent agent, which
uses a mining algorithm to discover
epidemic patterns. In reply, the patient
receives recommendations about
what to do, what not to do, the nearest
healthcare centre and what is going on
around them.
“In Africa, around 5 million people
die every year and 300 million get ill
from epidemic disease like malaria,
cholera, influenza and tuberculosis,”
says Mahmoud Ben Jeddou, Survival
Strategy Developer at M-Health
Discovery. “Healthcare services are
often few and far between, but there’s
a very high penetration rate of mobile
phones. Over 65% of the population is
connected to a network, and we saw
in this the potential to reach people.
As well as giving the patients access
to health information that directly
concerns them and raising health
awareness, we can also use the data
to detect epidemics from the earliest
stages. This will allow governments
and health organisations to take the
relevant precautions and make the
necessary preparations to deal with
widespread outbreaks of treatable
diseases, preventing avoidable deaths.”
Getting Sirius
Aware of the huge potential for this
innovation, the entrepreneurs set
up M-Health Discovery in January
2014 and began to look for ways to
grow the idea and develop it further.
Researching avenues of support for a
pilot programme, they came across
Sirius and applied to join. The start-
up was offered a place at business
accelerator Ignite, in Newcastle,
starting in January 2015. Mahmoud and
his co-founder, Mohamed Ouederni,
will have access to mentoring by
experienced entrepreneurs, workshops
and seminars and potential investors.
They will use this time to develop their
idea, build networks, secure investment
and create a successful business.
“Sub-Saharan Africa is a region known
for its high rate of epidemics,” says
Mahmoud. “We plan to prove our
tool’s effectiveness, and then we will
move to expand our service around
the world. Basing ourselves in the UK
gives us the best chance of success.
Its healthcare sector is among the best
in the world, in terms of availability of
research centres and NGOs working
in this field. It has the most active and
creative entrepreneurship scene in
Europe, if not the world. There’s strong
government support for talent and
innovation, and Sirius is an excellent
example of this. It’s a unique program
for supporting early-stage start-ups to
develop their disruptive ideas. Being
in the UK and having joined Sirius, we
expect to quickly and easily access
partners for collaboration, such as
researchers, epidemiologists and
NGOs and connect the output of our
big data analytics to the power of UK-
based medical laboratories.”
The Sirius Programme
Launched by UKTI in September 2013,
the Sirius Programme aims to attract
and retain international entrepreneurial
graduates to the UK, building on the
UK’s position as a top destination for
entrepreneurship.
The programme has been designed
to create the next generation of
successful graduate entrepreneurs with
the potential to become tomorrow’s
global businesses and contribute to the
UK’s growth economy.
To find out more, visit
gov.uk/the-sirius-programme or
email info@siriusprogramme.com