A Serious Game for Improving Community-Based Prevention of Neglected Diseases

Community-based healthcare strategies are becoming increasingly important in developing sustainable practices for prevention of neglected and emerging diseases in remote regions. In this paper, we discuss the use of "serious games" as one of the strategies for improving local populations\´ knowledge of the causes, preventive measures, and treatment options for neglected tropical diseases. We illustrate the potential of such a strategy for fostering engagement between local communities and healthcare workers by presenting a serious game architecture we have developed in collaboration with medical researchers and practitioners working in Amazonia. Although this first game focuses on Leishmaniases, it can be extended to easily include other similar diseases. This prototype game has been presented to a group of experts on neglected tropical diseases, and their opinions are reported here.