Our team developed Mediport, a mobile application designed to enhance travelers' safety. Mediport features a one-click translator for current health conditions based on the user's travel destination and is aimed primarily at individuals of all ages with mandatory daily medication needs. Secondary target users are senior travelers who may be apprehensive about traveling abroad due to concerns about safety in case of injuries.

The application supports people with daily medication or health matters, enabling them to travel seamlessly without concerns, thus addressing a significant gap in themHealth market and travel industry, particularly regarding language barriers in medical emergencies. The concept of a language-agnostic medical passport emerged from researching common concerns of travelers. We identified that suffering an injury in remote locations was on top.

Our team, consisting of four international students, experienced language barriers when dealing with hospitals and insurance when we first arrived in the States. In the current mHealth market, while many applications offer medication tracking and current health information, none offer translation services.

Mediport bridges this gap by providing a feature that translates medical information into different languages. In the initial development phase, we researched competing applications to identify and eliminate the most significant barriers they presented with their services.

Through research and several interviews with people with and without daily medication, we created a prototype and conducted user testing. This process highlighted the need to strengthen safety measures. Thus, we expanded our services beyond translation and emergency contacts. Notable additions include the ability for users to add a travel companion to their profile, ensuring support for seniors unfamiliar with digital technology during family trips.

Besides the translation and travel companion feature, Mediport offers several safety measures to boost user confidence and safety during travel. These include providing the contact information of embassies in each country on the main page, travel preparation checklists, destination health regulations, travel insurance recommendations, and information about nearby hospitals based on the user's GPS location. This feature is crucial as it reduces the time users spend searching for medical facilities in emergencies, further enhancing the safety aspect of our service.

Our initial question was, "How might we help travelers easily share their detailed health information to ensure they receive personalized and timely healthcare services, thereby feeling confident and secure in their medical care?" With Mediport, we have developed a small yet impactful answer, paving the way for the future of accessible healthcare.

In today's fast-paced world, the need for accessible and reliable healthcare information during travel is more critical than ever. Mediport may become a safety beacon for travelers worldwide. Mediport highlights its mission to bridge the gap in the current mHealth market and travel industry.

By combining language-agnostic features with a deep understanding of the importance of travelers' health concerns, Mediport sets a new standard in travel safety andglobal healthcare accessibility. The concept of a language-agnostic medical passport emerged from researching common concerns of travelers.According to the data from 2013, which was a pre-covid era, suffering an injury in remote locations was the top concern with 32%. The following concern was 16%, meaning many people fear injury in remote locations. The CDC, WHO, FDA, and ISTM mention how important it is to have medication accessibility on their website.

However, despite knowing the importance, the language barrier was a big wall for travelers. There are a lot of medical journals that state the importance of communication in health care. By doing the research, we identified that the cost of neglecting the language barrier problem in the medical industry was a more considerable pain than we thought. A news article from July 7th, 2021: Language Barriers Keep 25 million inU.S. From Good Health talks about the importance of breaking the language barrier.

Some of the critical points from the articles were: First, healthcare spending for Spanish speakers was 35% to 42% lower compared to English speakers; Second, Spanish speakers have 36% fewer outpatient visits, and they experience a 48% reduction in prescription medication use; Third, The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated healthcare disparities, particularly forHispanic individuals with limited English proficiency.

There was evidence of inequalities in receiving critical healthcare services due to the language barrier. Medical journals also solely discussed the language barrier problem and communication. Dr. Glenn Flores, a professor and Chair of Pediatrics and Sr. Associate Dean of Child Health at the University of Miami, wrote an academic journal about Language barriers to health care in the UnitedStates. The Ministry of Health, Al Buraimi, wrote a scholarly journal article about the implications of language barriers for healthcare. Both journals discuss the risk of patient safety and wrong medication due to the language barrier.

These research and results completed the problem statement, "How might we help travelers easily share their detailed health information wherever they are in the world to ensure they receive personalized and timely healthcare services so they can feel confident and secure in their medical care because peace of mind and accessibility to quality healthcare are essential needs for travelers." We discovered the opportunity once the research and its results solidified our problem statement. First, most smartphones nowadays, such as Apple or Samsung, have a health tracker, but what will make our application stand out?

An application called "My Travel Health" was the direct competitor in the market for Mediport. Their primary services are travel health information, vaccine prevention information, travel preparation lists, save health documents, and embassy and safety alerts. However, all three were missing: the quick and easy translator. Mediport is a medication-checking application that provides a translation feature for travelers to easily manage their lost, needed medication or procedures in the right place at the right time.

For seniors or users who are not comfortable with digital, we allowed users to add and manage travel companions' health information, catering to family members who may not be comfortable with digital technology. Lastly, Mediport provides information on nearby hospitals, which is helpful in case of lost medication or emergencies. We acknowledge the importance of the golden hour in medical terms and release people from concerns about beinginjured in a remote location. Besides the features above, Mediport offers several safety measures to boost user confidence and safety during travel. After conducting user testing, surveys, and interviews, we found that users wanted to see stronger safety measures and find them easily.

In the final prototype of Mediport, we provide the contact information of embassies in the traveler's destination country on the main page, travel preparation checklists, destination health regulations, travel insurance recommendations, and information about nearby hospitals based on the user's GPS location. Having this feature easily accessible is crucial as it reduces the time users spend searching through the app for medical facilities in emergencies, further enhancing the safety aspect of our service. The viability of the product is crucial as well. The mHealth market is consistently growing, with the US and China leading the industry.

The market was valued at 43.5 billion USD in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% over the next seven years, reaching 2030. Moving on to the smaller segment in the mHealth market, the medication-checking app segment, the US is the largest market, generating 420.30 million USD in revenue. While Mediport aims for global users, in our initial stage, we decided to focus on our primary target audience as individuals in the US who require daily medication and are hesitant to travel abroad due to health concerns. Mediport's primary revenue will come from a subscription model targeting individual users. In-app advertisements from insurance companies will provide additional revenue. To ensure transparency for our users, we will clearly state that these companies are sponsors. The pricing strategy will follow a freemium model, similar to many software-based applications, offering a free version with the option to upgrade for more comprehensive safety features.

Having decided on the target audience, we narrowed our users further because many discussions were going over the term "medical passport" after the COVID era. By looking at the data collected in 2021, we identified that people in their 30s and above had positive opinions on vaccination passports compared to the younger generations, and international travelers tend to support more than domestic travelers. Per the mission statement, "We are going to enable travelers to effortlessly share detailed health information, ensuring personalized and timely healthcare services for their peace of mind and well-being."

Our goal was to let go of the pain of travelers with limited mobility, family concerns, fear of uncertain situations, and the impact on health. Instead, offer them the excitement for adventure, Joy from new experiences, expand their social circle, and satisfaction about overcoming barriers in traveling. This solution might evolve as user needs change over time, but we want to see this as the future of healthcare access.