Design of a Smart Health Monitoring Wristband for Rural Ebonyi State Communities

Rural communities in Ebonyi State face significant challenges in accessing timely health monitoring services due to limited healthcare infrastructure and personnel shortages. This study designs a smart health monitoring wristband capable of continuously tracking heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and body temperature, transmitting alerts to community health workers via Bluetooth and a paired mobile application. The hardware design integrates the MAX30102 pulse oximetry sensor, DS18B20 temperature probe, and an ESP32 Bluetooth microcontroller module within a compact wrist-worn enclosure. Firmware was developed in C using the Arduino IDE, while the companion Android application was built using Android Studio. The design process followed an iterative engineering design cycle including feasibility analysis, component selection, prototyping, calibration, and usability testing. Clinical validation was conducted by comparing wristband readings against certified medical-grade instruments across 50 adult participants in Abakaliki. Results indicate measurement accuracy within plus or minus 2 beats per minute for heart rate, plus or minus 2 percent for SpO2, and plus or minus 0.5 degrees Celsius for temperature. Alert delivery to the paired mobile application was successful in 97 percent of test instances. The study concludes that low-cost wearable health monitors can enhance community-level health surveillance in resource-limited rural settings. Recommendations include GSM integration for wider connectivity and a multi-parameter dashboard for community health workers.