This week is Melanoma Awareness Week and a New Zealand health insurer has announced a new partnership to bring a free skin cancer app to its members.
Kiwi-owned Accuro Health Insurance has partnered with Netherland-based SkinVision, enabling free access for its members to a mobile self-check tool to detect signs of skin cancer early on.
The announcement coincides with the start of Melanoma Awareness Week in New Zealand today (14 – 21 November 2016).
New Zealand tops the list for the highest incidence rate of melanoma in the world.
Over 4000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with melanoma and around 300 New Zealanders die of the disease each year.
The SkinVision app is available on iPhone and Android phones and allows users to accurately assess the skin cancer risk of moles and lesions early on, before seeing a doctor for a diagnosis and optional treatment.
Accuro CEO Geoff Annals said that both Accuro and SkinVision have a mission to increase the awareness of skin cancer in New Zealand.
“Accuro recognises the importance of reducing skin cancer risk and increasing early detection rates for the disease in New Zealand.
“By providing our members with this uniquely accessible skin health monitoring technology we hope to save lives and encourage our members and their families to become more aware of the importance of monitoring their skin health,” he said.
SkinVision CEO Dick Uyttewaal said, “We completely stand behind Accuro’s vision for communities of people that take care of each other, and themselves.
“By providing Kiwis with modern digital tools to work alongside traditional healthcare solutions, we are enabling people to receive better care all round,” he said.
Uyttewaal says the next step is to launch a nationwide awareness campaign together with thousands of nurses across New Zealand. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) will put the SkinVision app into the hands of its nurses to demonstrate how patients can monitor their own skin health in between doctor visits.
The announcement coincides with the start of Melanoma Awareness Week in New Zealand today (14 – 21 November 2016).
New Zealand tops the list for the highest incidence rate of melanoma in the world.
Over 4000 New Zealanders are diagnosed with melanoma and around 300 New Zealanders die of the disease each year.
The SkinVision app is available on iPhone and Android phones and allows users to accurately assess the skin cancer risk of moles and lesions early on, before seeing a doctor for a diagnosis and optional treatment.
Accuro CEO Geoff Annals said that both Accuro and SkinVision have a mission to increase the awareness of skin cancer in New Zealand.
“Accuro recognises the importance of reducing skin cancer risk and increasing early detection rates for the disease in New Zealand.
“By providing our members with this uniquely accessible skin health monitoring technology we hope to save lives and encourage our members and their families to become more aware of the importance of monitoring their skin health,” he said.
SkinVision CEO Dick Uyttewaal said, “We completely stand behind Accuro’s vision for communities of people that take care of each other, and themselves.
“By providing Kiwis with modern digital tools to work alongside traditional healthcare solutions, we are enabling people to receive better care all round,” he said.
Uyttewaal says the next step is to launch a nationwide awareness campaign together with thousands of nurses across New Zealand. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) will put the SkinVision app into the hands of its nurses to demonstrate how patients can monitor their own skin health in between doctor visits.
