Abstract

Heart attack and malaria are the leading cause of death in Africa. Signs of heart problems are poor heartbeat, palpitation, chest pain etc. while symptoms of malaria are high body temperature and feverish condition. This work developed a dual health monitoring device for examining the heart pulse rate in beat per minute and for checking the body temperature. The system comprised power supply, voltage converter, microcontroller, and heartbeat and temperature sensors. The temperature readings and pulse rate were displayed on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen and mobile phone for easy access. For the purpose of validating and testing the performance of the system, the temperature and heartbeat of four persons were taken and the readings were compared with those obtained using conventional method. Temperature readings of four patients obtained via the system developed were 36.60C, 37.10C, 36.10C and 37.10C, respectively which translated to an average error of when compared with 360C, 36.90C, 36.50C and 36.70C obtained respectively, through axillary thermometer. It was also seen that heartbeat rates measured compared favourably well with those released by American Heart Association for the given age bracket.