Facebook has recently developed a new ‘Preventive Health Tool' on its app to notify users to take regular health check-ups according to their
age and gender information.
"Tens of millions of people in the US are missing out
on recommended preventive care, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Preventive measures have the potential to detect disease early
when it’s most treatable and, in some cases, prevent it from developing. Yet
factors such as awareness, access, and cost create barriers to testing for many
people.” said Facebook.
To tackle this issue, Facebook’s new tool will suggest
undergoing check-ups based on your age. This feature is available on Facebook’s
extended apps.
If the user chooses to take a test, the tool will suggest
some affordable health centers where they can go for a check-up. If you select
a place, you can make a booking that Facebook will keep a record of on its
Health App. Afterward, it will notify the user on the day they have their
check-up scheduled.
Facebook has said that the Preventive Health app mainly
focuses on cancer, heart disease, and flu to raise awareness about these
illnesses.
Once you’ve went taken a test or received a flu shot, you
can update its status to done on the app. This is a great step taken by the social media giant to
raise awareness about different health issues, given the massive numbers of
users that it’ll be able to reach.
Facebook is currently under ongoing privacy issues and many people would be concerned about the app accessing records of their health check-ups through the tool. But according to sources, Facebook doesn’t keep any records of the user’s appointments or health, it just prompts them with reminders.
"Your activity within Preventive Health will not be
posted publicly or shared with others. Information you provide is securely
stored and access is restricted to a group of people at Facebook who work on
the product or maintain our systems. We don’t share personal information about
your activity in Preventive Health with third parties, such as health
organizations or insurance companies, so it can’t be used for purposes like
insurance eligibility.", said the company.
