AllergyPal wins Innovation Challenge award to help future proof Australian healthcare

The Australian Digital Health Agency has announced five winners of the $50,000 Innovation Challenge championing digital health innovation to provide a healthier future for Australians through connected healthcare.

One of the winners is AllergyPal, a digital management platform for children with food allergy. The MCRI-based team developed AllergyPal to support families in managing their child's food allergy.

AllergyPal provides ready access to a child's allergy plan, interactive guidance on how to manage allergic reactions in an emergency and a way for parents to leave individualised instructions on their preferred approach to allergen avoidance. Most importantly the app has a share function that lets parents give other carers direct access to all of the features of AllergyPal when leaving their child with friends and family.

Anyone caring for a child can use AllergyPal to help recognise the signs of an allergic reaction and seek appropriate help.

The platform was developed by Professor Mimi Tang in collaboration with Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia and the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy.

MCRI also partnered with Curve Tomorrow, a technology company that is passionate about changing the direction of health, to develop the platform.

Australian Digital Health Agency Chief Digital Officer, Steven Issa congratulated the winners who were determined through a competitive process and thanked all applicants for participating in the Innovation Challenge.

"We were delighted to see such interest in this challenge when we received 395 applications from Australian industry and academia on how to solve key healthcare challenges. It was difficult to determine the finalists with so many highly innovative ideas.

"It's great to see so many working hard to develop innovative solutions to help ensure a sustainable and fair healthcare system," he said.

The Agency will now collaborate closely with the successful applicants to assist them to co-design their solution and assist with plans for national scaling.

Professer Tang said, "We are very proud to be an inaugural winner of this award, and look forward to working with the ADHA. We plan to extend the platform to reach more families and further develop AllergyPal to improve continuity of care and health outcomes for children with food allergy. We want parents to feel supported and have peace of mind that their child is kept safe at all times, especially when left in the care of others."

For more details see: AllergyPal