mHealth for Development - Mobile Communications for Health

This 7-page brochure from the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership outlines the opportunity presented by the growing field of mobile health (mHealth). It provides a landscape analysis of the role and impact of mobile communications in health delivery in the developing world, highlighting ways in which mobile technology is making it possible for workers in low-resource environments to address urgent public health issues.

The initial portions of the document provide context in order to introduce the reader to key health challenges affecting the developing world. For example, World Health Organization (WHO) statistics indicate that 57 countries have critical shortages in health care workers, with a total deficit of 2.4 million health professionals worldwide. However, according to the report, trends in the adoption and geographic reach of wireless technology (e.g., 64% of all mobile phone users are in the developing world, and 80% of the world's population now lives in an area with mobile phone coverage - a figure that the GSM Association (GSMA) expects to rise to 85% by 2010) indicate great promise to address health challenges.

The authors of this document explain that mHealth can make health care more effective in 2 distinct but interrelated ways: Enabling improved access to health-related services, and improving clinical outcomes, such as reduced infant mortality, longer lifespans, and decreased contraction of diseases. They argue that the primary benefits of mHealth - the ability to scale, to bring communications to where it is most needed, and to fill the gap left by shortages of health care workers - apply to all sectors of the developing world, and will accommodate an anticipated shift in focus to prevention and early detection (rather than late-stage treatment) of non-communicable diseases and to the health needs of an ageing population. In addition, as health care needs evolve, wireless technology is also advancing to include such solutions as next generation networking (NGN), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and specialised and more intelligent wireless devices.

To illustrate this potential, the report includes a chart highlighting key applications of wireless technology, with project examples. Here are some highlights:

• One-way communications to mobile subscribers via SMS/text messaging in support of public health and behaviour change campaigns.
• Applications designed to enter and access patient data and/or health records on mobile phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), or laptop computers.
• One-way or two-way communications with the patient to monitor health conditions, maintain caregiver appointments, or ensure strict medication regimen adherence.
• Applications using mobile devices to send and receive data of disease incidence, outbreaks, and geographic spread of public health emergencies, often used in association with geographical positioning satellite (GPS) systems and back-end applications for visualisation.
• Applications developed for central health care information technology (IT) systems, allowing for access by and integration with mHealth applications.
• Applications developed to provide support for diagnostic and treatment activities of remote caregivers through internet access to medical information databases or to medical staff.

The report stresses one particularly important application of wireless technology: data collection, which "plays a critical role in bridging the information gap regarding patient data in the developing world by enabling the collection of disease information and its analysis at the local, national, regional and global level. This allows public officials to gauge the effectiveness of health care programs, identify and rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks and adjust programs and policies accordingly."

In short, "[m]obile technology has the potential to transform healthcare in the developing world, and a key role to play in work toward meeting Millennium Development Goals related to reducing child and maternal mortality."