Ubiquitous Bugs and Drugs Education for Children Through Mobile Games

Abstract

Increasing mobile device ownership among children makes them an attractive platform for raising awareness about health issues. At the same time, children are using mobile devices for playing games and therefore these games could be used to facilitate the delivery of important healthcare messages in an enjoyable manner. In this article we present edugames4all MicrobeQuest!, a mobile game that aims to create awareness among 9 to 12 years old on healthcare issues related to microbe transmission, food and hand hygiene, and responsible antibiotic use. This article discusses the preliminary research performed in assessing the usability of the game.