Selfcare is a piece as a recult of my resiency with University of Bimringhams Systems Modelling and Quantitive Biomedicine group in 2022-2023.

In 2022 I have joined a research team at SMQB who are developing a mobile app that will aid in the treatment  of leprosy. The app , will contain self-care instructions for the treatment of leprosy and will be used by carers in Nepal. The app concentrates on the use of a set of distinct items the patient needs in order to care for leprosy ulcer themselves including diluted soap, and concentrates on the treatment of lesions on the foot. 

After meeting with the team initially self-care became the stand out element of the development of the app and that the app will provide a distinct list of items for the patient, they will need for them to care for their leprosy themselves. After reading testimonials from patients, provided by the team, the importance of self care and cleanliness became even more prominent with patients stating that ‘Self care is part of my daily routine and I need to take care of my eyes, hands and feet’.  To me the items listed in the app that patients needed for self-care, had huge importance as became a tool kit for the patient in order to aid them in their recovery. The items included a chair, bandages and soap amongst others.

The instructions the app gives to the patient is based upon the readings of colours, specifically red, blue and green, in imagery of the patients ulcers. After taking an image of an ulcer the app effectively separates the image in to certain colours and the more red present in the image of the ulcer indicates its severity. The more blue and green within the image indicates the ulcer is healing and a graph like the below is produced in the background and then determines the self care instructed. 

The importance of the colours within the operation of the app became something I then took forward in my work. The image of an ulcer became the indication for how much self care was needed in order for the ulcer to decrease, so the items, such a soap, that were used for self care, were still of great significance. As the app effectively pixelated the images to read the colours of the ulcer, I began pixelating images of different ulcers and microscopic forms of leprosy. I found here that the red, blues and greens could become prominent as they do within the programming of the app. To integrate the element of self-care as well as the importance of the soap to the self care of the patient, I constructed a series of pixelated images of the series of ulcers from small bars of soap each died to the colour of the areas of the leprosy ulcer. I added colours to the soap and cast them as pixels in mainly different hues of reds, greens and blues, as the apps reads. 

 
I then have begun creating a sort of mosaic of the pixelated images. I hope to make 4 soap images of the ulcers of different severity using the coloured soap to illustrate the importance of the self-care and highlighting one of the crucial tools of caring for the ulcers (soap) as well as showing the programming of the app.