By Sophie Curtis 7:00AM GMT 13 Feb 2014

By 2024, mobile technology will have completely transformed medical provision across the world, according to global healthcare company Bupa. Clothes, household appliances and furniture will all play a vital role behind the scenes of our daily routines, helping keep track of health and alerting people at the first sign of illness.

Meanwhile, ‘gamification’ of healthcare could reward everyday positive choices and healthy behaviour in the same way gamers unlock badges in mobile apps such as Angry Birds or Foursquare, aiding disease prevention and dramatically reducing the onset of diseases such as diabetes.

“This glimpse into the future has allowed us to imagine a time where sophisticated mobile technology and advancements in the connected home mean that people can become guardians of their own health,” said Dr Paul Zollinger-Read, Chief Medical Officer at Bupa.

“Being aware of their likelihood of disease and possible risk factors, coupled with constant monitoring through intelligent technology means that they will be able to spot the symptoms of illness from a very early stage, or simply prevent them altogether.”

Some of the innovative healthcare solutions suggested by Bupa include ‘smart’ nappies that allow parents to check their child’s hydration levels or monitor for kidney infections, intelligent fibres in clothing that canl detect movement of the chest and pulse, monitoring breathing and heart rate and detecting irregularities, and contact lenses featuring microscopic cameras that will monitor changes in the back of the eye, spotting early signs of diabetes.

Shoes featuring pressure sensors could detect when the wearer is sedentary, and alert them with updates on fitness goals, and the household fridge will monitor liquid, nutrition and calorie consumption, while ‘tattoo’ skin patches will monitor body temperature and hydration.

Bupa said that wearable technology and the connected home will transform prevention of diseases in the next decade by gathering data from a number of devices about our bodies and presenting it back to us in simple, visual, practical terms.

The news comes after Google unveiled a revolutionary smart contact lens which detects glucose levels in diabetes sufferers’ tears earlier this year. Human trials of a miniature artificial pancreas are also set to begin in 2016.

In November 2013, Bupa signed a partnership agreement with the United Nations agency, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to work together on a global ‘m-Health’ initiative called ‘Be Healthy, Be Mobile’.

Bupa and ITU will provide multidisciplinary expertise, health information and mobile technology to fight chronic diseases including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, in low- and middle-income countries.