Fooya


Fooya is a medical mobile app which uses gamification of learning and educational entertainment principles to induce children to improve their diet and lifestyle habits, as a scientific and evidence based way to improve health. It was developed by the mHealth company FriendsLearn and was featured as a case study of cutting-edge research methods in areas of emerging technology, during the 2018 International Summit on Social and Behavior Change Communication by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, UNICEF and BBC.
Fooya uses artificial intelligence in the area of non-communicable disease prevention through technology, known as Digital Vaccines based on neuroscience and cognitive science.
In January 2019, Carnegie Mellon University published about ongoing research and global clinical trials involving fooya, as the lead story along with their annual summary of scientific advances "2018 - Year in Review" with independent researchers describing the advances as "a powerful push forward in disease prevention technology".
Fooya has been cited and discussed in Revolutionizing Tropical Medicine, by Dr David Mabey of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, as an example of science based mobile health technology that addresses metabolic syndrome.

Efficacy

Studies have shown that Fooya is able to induce children and young adults to improve their dietary choices for overall positive effects on their health.
Results of the underlying mechanisms in Fooya have been presented at the 2015 MedicineX Conference at the Stanford School of Medicine, 2015 Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, 2015 Child Health Bay Area Conference at UCSF School of Medicine and the 2014 ObesityWeek Conference

The Health Gaming Championship

Fooya is the official title sponsor of "The Health Gaming Championship", an annual tournament open to professional and amateur Fooya health gamers. The inaugural 2015 edition was conducted at the College of Engineering, Guindy campus in partnership with Rotary International.

Research and clinical trials

Health outcomes of clinical Fooya trials conducted by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine's Children's Nutrition Research Center were presented at The Obesity Society's 2014 ObesityWeek Conference in Boston.

Initial launch & Crowdfunding

Fooya was first launched as a Facebook App in 2012 at the DEMO Conference in Silicon Valley, and successfully raised over $50,000 through a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter