Xploro is working with World Child Cancer to offer children in Ghana free access to its award-winning app.
Xploro will be used on tablet devices and with mobile data provided by World Child Cancer during a two-month pilot scheme in a Ghanaian hospital.
It will then be rolled out to more hospitals in the country, followed by hospitals in Cameroon and Malawi.
Xploro will ultimately be available in every country that World Child Cancer has a presence in, across Africa, Asia and Central America.
Co-founder and CEO Dom Raban said: “This project will have a huge impact, not only on children using Xploro but their families too.
"Many hospitals in low and middle-income countries are poorly resourced.
"Clinicians often don’t have the time or materials to explain to children and their families what to expect from a serious illness like cancer, or the implications of its treatment.
"This can lead to treatment refusal, or abandonment, through misunderstanding and miseducation.
"Our vision is that Xploro will change that."
Reducing anxiety
The Xploro app, which aims to reduce anxiety in children being treated for a serious illness, has been customised to reflect specific hospital environments, local staff roles and cultural differences such as names.
Children from the west African country have been involved in choosing new in-app avatar names – both locally-recognisable given names and the collection of unusual surnames Xploro has become known for by its users.
“We feel incredibly proud to work with World Child Cancer to make Xploro accessible to children in Ghana and beyond," said Dom.
"Whilst our commercial model is available to any healthcare organisation, we know that in countries like Ghana health information is a luxury that many hospitals simply cannot afford.
"It’s such an important and worthwhile project, and we jumped at the opportunity to offer Xploro, free of charge.”
Making sense of treatment and diagnosis
Professor Lorna Awo Renner, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist and World Child Cancer’s Ghana programme lead, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer the Xploro app to the children at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
"Being admitted to hospital is often a very frightening and confusing time for families, so having a tool at our disposal to help them make sense of their treatment and diagnosis is invaluable.
"Through this partnership we hope to reduce the anxiety experienced by children undergoing treatment – encouraging them to learn and have fun in the process.”
The two-month pilot scheme begins in October with an expected roll out to other Ghanaian hospitals in the new year.