Facebook wants to offer you advice on preventive health care
FILE PHOTO: Figurines are seen in front of the Facebook logo in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: Facebook logo is seen in front of displayed binary code in this illustration picture
INTERNATIONAL – Facebook Inc. is cracking the door open into another part of its users’ personal lives: their health.
The social media giant on Monday announced a feature that will use a person’s age and gender to provide preventive health-care information, including suggested checkups. Users can then find a nearby doctor or clinic, set a reminder for their appointment and mark it “done” once they’ve completed a visit — all on Facebook.
The company says the feature is intended to encourage more people to take steps to prevent health issues. “I take care of patients every day who come in with acute heart attacks,” said Freddy Abnousi, a practicing doctor who is head of health-care research at Facebook. “Every time we bring someone back from the abyss, because that’s basically how they show up, we always wonder how we could have prevented some of this.” This new feature, Abnousi hopes, will get people to see their doctor with more regularity.
Source: iol.co.za