The United Nations (UN) announced on June 21 the launch of its first SunSmart Global UV App. This is a smart application to measure ultraviolet rays developed by Australia’s Cancer Council Victoria and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.
Carla Drysdale, a spokesperson for WHO, said that it is the only public health instrument in the world that integrates data collected from UV and meteorological stations in each nation to provide precise and location-specific UV radiation indexes.
The SunSmart Global UV App is co-sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The SunSmart Global UV application is freely available on the Apple AppStore for iOS and Google PlayStore for Android.
UV rays from the sun can interfere with vitamin D production, resulting in DNA damage, skin cancer, and various eye problems like cataracts.
The app displays a UV radiation index ranging from 1 (low) to 11 (high), with exceptionally high values exceeding 11. The greater the index value, the more damaging it is to the skin and eyes.
The app is a simple measure to keep your skin and eyes safe.
“The application is a combination of weather, environmental and health information to help protect people from the sun both at work and at leisure,” according to WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Tallas.
The amount of ozone in the atmosphere, the height of the sun, the reflectance from the ground surface when ultraviolet rays shine down, and other factors were mentioned by the WMO as factors affecting UV radiation levels.
To provide users with warning signs, all these attributes will be aggregated in the application.
Long-term exposure to ultraviolet rays is also one of the leading causes of skin cancer. The two most frequent kinds of skin cancer are basal cells and squamous cells.
It is estimated that more than 1.5 million cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed globally in 2020. This time, there is more forewarning as summer approaches. UV radiation peak index in all areas of Europe and the Northern Hemisphere particularly reaches very high harmful levels.
The SunSmart Global UV app is available free of charge at both the Apple App and Google Play stores.
