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Tag Archive for: Mobile Devices

National Framework for mHealth: Ethiopia

Ethiopia is at a pivotal moment in its efforts to improve the health status of its people and move the country into a new phase of social and economic development. The country’s massive Health Extension Program (HEP) program has placed over 34,000 community health workers in 14,000 health posts in less than 8 years. Now, health authorities are exploring ways to improve the program with mobile solutions.

Sponsored by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Vital Wave Consulting authored the “mHealth in Ethiopia: Strategies for a new Framework” report for the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. The report offers a framework for addressing specific information, communication and inventory management issues with mHealth interventions.

Download the report by clicking the link below – and let us know what you think in the comments!

Initiative:

Evidence Commons

Maternal Newborn mHealth

April 10, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Two Guides You Must Read Before Using Mobile Technology for Behavior Change

Photo Credit: Larissa Frei

As the desire to utilize mobile phones in international health projects has increased in the last few years, organizations continually ask a similar question, “We want to use mobile phones. Now what?” But the decision to introduce or start a mhealth project needs to come after answering many questions before “now what?” especially when dealing with behavior change communication projects. Enter Abt Associates, FrontlineSMS, and Text to Change. Two guides have recently been released to help organizations assess whether or not mobiles are the right tool, and if they are, the process moving forward. One is from Abt Associates and is entitled mBCC Field Guide: A Resource for Developing Mobile Behavior Change Communication Programs. The other one was created in collaboration between FrontlineSMS and Text to Change and is entitled Communications for change: How to use text messaging as an effective behavior change campaigning tool.

mHealth is a sexy term these days but it is not always the best approach to creating behavior change. Simply using mobile devices will not instantly make your project/program better. But when designed and implemented with the end user in mind, they can be a cheaper and more direct tool to pass information along in order to change behaviors.

Reason for the Guides

Abt and FrontlineSMS/Text to Change saw the need to have a guide that can lead practitioners through the necessary steps in order to see if and how a mobile solution could be used in the field. Each guide clearly shows the need to analyze on how a mobile intervention would fit into a program. They both do a great job pointing out that every situation is different and that a mhealth intervention must fit into the context and infrastructure of the region. But they are structured in very different ways and have noticeably different lengths (50 pages vs 7 pages). The Frontline/Text to Change guide is structured more like a checklist and mostly focused on text message interventions. The mBCC guide is longer and walks the reader thoroughly through the assessment process. But the guides show how to strategically think about behavior change communication projects.

The mBCC Field Guide

Abt Associates broke down the guide into 6 chapters with each chapter focusing on a specific topic. Each chapter lays out the necessary research and design that must be conducted in order to successfully utilize mobiles for behavior change. The chapters are in order of how one should follow the process (even though you can pick and choose chapters if you have already completed a chapter before reading). The chapters include Situation Analysis, Audience Segmentation, Behavior Change Objectives, Message Development, Tools & Technologies, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Each chapter also includes tools in the form of Excel templates that can be utilized to complete the assessment discussed in the chapter. With a high level of detail along with the structured worksheets, this guide is designed for those who are new to mhealth and are seeking a step-by-step walk through from the start.

Frontline/Text to Change

As mentioned before, the FrontlineSMS and Text to Change guide is more of a checklist of things to research and discuss before designing and implementing a mobile-based behavior change project. With a DOs and DON’Ts list, it covers context, content, developing campaigns, and monitoring and evaluation. This skeleton format is a quick read and is probably better suited for an organization that either has worked with mobile devices before or is somewhat knowledgeable about mhealth.

Both are very useful guides for the intended audiences. With mhealth still only mostly being used in pilot projects, we need to find answers to what changes behavior. The greater number of projects that use mobile devices for behavior change communication (when they are deemed most appropriate) means more data and evidence will be produced in order to show the true impact of mobile devices. These guides give the necessary direction to organizations to start leveraging mobile devices in health projects and discover what does and does not work along with why, which is the most important question of all.

As an ending note, the mBCC Field Guide was presented by Gael O’Sullivan, Stephen Rahaim, and Shalu Umapathy from Abt Associates during the latest mHealth Working Group meeting. They explained that the guide needed to be a “living document,” and they requested feedback about it from mhealth practitioners, especially those in the field. Please visit their website (http://www.mbccfieldguide.com/) in order to provide any feedback. To provide feedback to FrontlineSMS and Text to Change, please find used the contact information here and here.

March 21, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Mobile Africa Report 2011: Regional Hubs of Excellence and Innovation

This report draws on primary research (including questionnaires sent to key mobile stakeholders in Africa) as well as secondary research (reports and articles from AfricaNext, BizCommunity, Dataxis Intelligence, International Telecommunications Union, Africa Analysis, Voice of America, TMCNet, BizCommunity, Computerworld Zambia – see full list at end of report).

In 2008, imports of data enabled phones exceeded that of non-data enabled phones in many African markets. In 2009, the undersea cables hit East and Southern Africa in a big way. In 2010, mobile operators became serious about data availability and cost packaging for everyday Africans. 2011 is expected to bring a new type of data-enabled mobile user in Africa, and brings the mobile web to center stage.

McKinsey estimates Africa’s gross domestic product at about US $2.6 trillion, with US $1.4 in consumer spending. Africa’s population growth and urbanization rates are among the highest in the world.

Yunkap Kwankam and Ntomambang Ningo, authors of the paper titled “Information Technology in Africa: A Proactive Approach,” maintain that African countries can bypass several stages in the use of ICTs.

On the technology front, Africans can accelerate development by skipping less efficient technologies and moving directly to more advanced ones. The telecommunications sector continues to attract a flurry of public and private investment.

Alex Twinomugisha in Nairobi, manager at Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative, says telecom investment in sub-Saharan Africa is coming not only from foreign sources but also local banks. But the investment should be in software and services as well, not just cabling infrastructure.

To learn more about the state of mobile in Africa, download the entire report here.

February 16, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

A Course on e-Health and m-Health: Using Information Technology to Improve Health in Low and Middle-Income Countries

E-HEALTH AND M-HEALTH:
USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE HEALTH IN LOW AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

Course URL: http://bit.ly/xo0DG9

International Health – online – Location: Internet

Course Instructors: Edward Bunker – Bill Weiss

Description:

Explores eHealth and mHealth in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). Students consider practical approaches to assess appropriate application of information and communication technologies to solve public health problems and improve health.

Students also identify and discuss challenges for developing and deploying eHealth and mHealth systems.

Through analysis of case studies and interactions with practitioners, students assess and articulate requirements for eHealth and mHealth systems.
Covers current topics and issues, including: “lessons-learned” from recent mobile health initiatives; challenges of creating, developing, and supporting systems within low-bandwidth or no-bandwidth environments; electronic health records (EHRs); role of mobile data collection within program monitoring and evaluation; and role and use of open source systems.

Although not exclusively, faculty and guest lecturers will draw upon their work and experiences related to HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Student Evaluation: Individual assignments (10%); Quizzes (10%); Exercises (10%) participation in group work and discussion (20%); two case study write-ups (30%); exploration of one emerging ICT, eHealth, or mHealth initiative (20%).

Learning Objective:

(1) articulate basic definitions and terms relevant to eHealth, mHealth, and Health Informatics;
(2) apply frameworks and other tools in the assessment and evaluation of eHealth and mHealth projects;
(3) consider how to elicit health-related needs and goals and determine if and how information technology can help meet those needs and goals;
(4) consider how information technology is or could be used to address health needs in LMIC;
(5) assist public health agencies and donors to develop or select information and communication technology to better solve problems and achieve objectives in LMIC;
(6) critically participate in discussions about basic system requirements for proposed systems by writing “Use Case” narratives and requirement statements;
(7) prepare Work Flow and/or Data Flow diagrams;
(8) identify the main drivers for the deployment of mHealth services in LMIC;
(9) describe and be familiar with the basic functions of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) Systems and discuss the potential role an appropriately applied EHR System might play within an eHealth ecosystem;
(10) examine and describe a variety of current mHealth and eHealth initiatives; and
(11) critically discuss and debate current eHealth and mHealth issues, challenges, and opportunities.

February 7, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

2012: The Year to Speech-enable Your Healthcare App and Give Mobile Clinicians a Voice

With continued growth in mobile device adoption across care teams, it is more important than ever for healthcare applications to support the needs of clinicians so mobility can be obtainable, process-driven and lead to rich collaboration. And with this comes the need for better data entry methods as mobile device adoption and clinical application usage increases in the medical community (it’s estimated that 85% of clinicians will own a smartphone by the end of 2012).

In an effort to support this trend, the Nuance Healthcare Development Platform, which offers secure, cloud-based, medical speech recognition services to healthcare ISVs and provider and payer organizations, was launched early last year. With this platform and its medical speech services, healthcare developers are able to voice-enable their apps using just a few lines of code.

To kick off 2012, Nuance Healthcare is challenging health care developers to give mobile clinicians a voice by speech-enabling their web-based and mobile apps using the Nuance Healthcare Development Platform—looking for the best implementation of speech recognition for the clinician on the go that enhances workflow and improves patient care.

The 2012 Mobile Clinician Voice Challenge opens Monday, January 2, 2012 at 9:00AM EST and closes Friday, February 3, 2012 at 5:00PM EST.

Watch a 60-second video describing the challenge at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4aGA7bmr7M

Take the challenge today and learn more at http://www.nuancehealthcare.com/2012mobilechallenge

January 4, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

2011 mHealth Summit Q&A

The mHealth Alliance is building on the monumental success of last year’s mHealth Summit, which saw more than 2,600 attendees from nearly 50 countries. This year, the mHealth Alliance joins HIMSS and NIH as organizing partners for the FNIH-presented mHealth Summit. The Summitwill bring together leaders in government, the private sector, industry, academia, providers, and not-for-profit organizations from across the mHealth ecosystem and around the world. It will take place December 5^th-7^th at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center located just outside Washington, DC at the National Harbor.

As everyone gears up for the 2011 mHealth Summit, I have received a lot of questions. Some have been logistical, while others have been about the content of the Summit. I thought it might be helpful for those thinking about attending or planning to attend if I post questions as I get them along with answers. Here are a few I have gotten so far:

Q: What is the best airport to fly into and how do I get from the airport to the Gaylord?

A: There are three major airports that serve the Washington, DC metropolitan area, including Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI), and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Super Shuttles can be taken from all of these locations, and the Gaylord offers hourly shuttle service from Reagan National Airport (DCA). Please visit Shuttle & Metro page of the mHealth Summit site for more information.

Q: Unfortunately, I missed the early registration period. Is there a discount code available?

A: Yes! The mHealth Alliance has a discount codefor the mHealth Summit. If you enter the code mHA11 during the registration process, you will receive $50 off a Full Access Pass. The Full Access Pass will get you into all of the Super Sessions, the Concurrent Sessions, the Exhibit Floor, the Monday Evening Reception, and the Keynote Luncheon on Tuesday. For more information about the different levels of passes available, please visit the registration page.

Q: How much of a focus will there be on maternal health projects?

A: The Maternal-newborn mHealth Initiative (MMI) is an important initiative of the mHealth Alliance. By focusing on maternal-newborn health as a lens to the application of ICTs to health systems, the mHealth Alliance is working toward health systems transformation to improve health outcomes for all populations. As such, maternal health is a very important topic for us, and it can be found throughout the summit program. A few panels and events that may have maternal content include, but are not limited to: mHealth Business Models in Maternal Health, The Intersection of Mobile Health and Public Health – Towards Greater Understanding and Collaboration, Deployment Case Studies for the mHealth Field Worker, and several sessions of the mFinance track. There will also be a Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA): An Exchange with Partners side event, which will feature active discussions with its in-country and global partners. Visit the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) site to learn more about their activities around the world.

Q: How much of a focus will there be on mHealth in the developing world?

A: Making sure that the experiences of people in the developing world are represented at the mHealth Summit is a priority of the mHealth Alliance. Panels and events that focus on this include, but are not limited to: Global Policy and Regulatory Perspectives of mHealth, Global Regulatory Frameworks: Understanding Regulatory Concerns Across Different Markets, Government Role in Scaling mHealth: Collaborations to Launch National mHealth Strategies, Successful mHealth Business Models in Emerging Markets, A New Model for National-level mHealth Planning, and the above mentioned MAMA event. The mHealth Alliance will also host a side event featuring mHealth national stakeholders from around the globe. At the National Stakeholders: Learning from the Global South event, panelists will share the successes and challenges they have faced in bringing a diverse group of stakeholders together to tackle issues like policy and regulation, interoperability, data security, and intersections with other mServices.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to comment below, and I will try to answer you as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for your interest in the mHealth Summit. If you would like to register, please click here. We hope to see you there!

October 25, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Maternal & Child Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Marketing “Mobile Midwife” in Ghana

Can information delivered on a mobile phone affect the outcome of a pregnancy in a developing country? Can communities and healthcare workers use mobile phones to save the lives of newborns? These are some of the questions that the Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) program in Ghana is trying to address. Grameen Foundation is working with Ghana Health Service and Columbia University in one of the poorest rural districts of Ghana to try to improve the health outcomes for mothers and their newborns using mobile phones. But once a service has been created, how do you generate awareness for it and ensure there is adequate participation?

In July 2010, we launched a service called “Mobile Midwife,” which enablespregnant women and their families to receive SMS or pre-recorded voice messages on personal mobile phones. The messages are tied to the estimated due-date for the woman so the information is time-specific and delivered weekly in their own language. Nurses also use mobile phones to record when a pregnant woman has received prenatal care. If critical care is missed, both the mother and the nurse receive a reminder message on their mobile phones. To date, over 7,000 pregnant women and children under five have been registered in the system. More detail about the program can be found online in our “Lessons Learned in Ghana” report.

One of the challenges we faced in the development of this system was how to generate awareness for the “Mobile Midwife” service in the first place. Unless people register for the service, they cannot receive the important information we are able to provide about pregnancy. As we talked to people in the rural villages where “Mobile Midwife” would be available, it quickly became clear that communities in Ghana, and particularly the Upper East Region, had been inundated with cartoon-like health message campaigns from myriad NGOs and government agencies. People told us that if campaigns were seen as “too slick,” people would not think the messages were relevant to them. The MOTECH team decided to pursue an approach that sought to provide “aspirational” images that were differentiated from the typical “NGO cartoon” campaign, but still were relevant to the UER population. This included using real photographs instead of drawings, and ensuring that the people in the photographs were wearing clothes in the style of those worn in the rural areas where we worked. Part of the aspirational message was dressing the models in new, clean clothing, which proved to be effective. When field testing the marketing styles, many people said they “liked the lady in the pictures and it made them feel good as one day they would like to be dressed well too.” The team also decided to create some messaging that was targeted specifically to men, in an effort to respect their roles as decision makers in the family, get them to listen to the messages with their partners, and be a part of making positive health choices throughout pregnancy, birth and early childhood. As the program evolves, we expect to experiment with broader reach marketing vehicles such as radio and community mobilization.

Initiative:

Maternal Newborn mHealth

Order:

October 5, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

AfriHealth Conference, Nairobi, 30 November – 1 December 2011

AITEC announces expert speaker line-up for AfriHealth Conference, Nairobi, 30 November – 1 December 2011

OPENING PLENARY

Consolidating the gains of technological innovation in healthcare through effective management

Professor Yunkap Kwankam, Executive Director, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), Switzerland

Aiming for a more integrated approach in healthcare delivery at national and local levels

Dr Katherine Getao, Head of eGovernment, Office of the President, Kenya

The economics of eHealth

Professor Maurice Mars, Head, Department of Telehealth, University of KwaZulu-Natal & President, South African Telemedicine Association

Ericsson’s mHealth Solutions – use cases and success criteria to enhance healthcare delivery

Rainer Herzog, Head of Strategy & Business Development mHealth & eHealth, Ericsson

mHealth: Turning hype into delivery

mHealth reaches puberty: Hype & hyperventilation

Bright Simons, Founder, mPedigree, Ghana

Using mobile telephony as an innovative communication channel for family planning

Bas Hoefman, Text to Change, Kenya

mHealth and the required ecosystem in East Africa

John Kieti, mLab, Kenya

PLENARY 2

An overview of latest worldwide trends in telemedicine

Frank Lievens, Board Member & Secretary, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth, Belgium

Addressing the fragile environment of e-health in resource-limited settings

Dr Christoph Larsen, synaLinQ, Vietnam & Kenya

Accessing funding for healthcare initiatives in Africa

Ken Nwosu, eHealth Ontario & McMaster University MSc eHealth Programme, Canada

Pharmaceutical management

Anti-counterfeit systems for pharmaceuticals

David Svarrer, CEO, Digital Age Institute, Kenya

Using IT for improved pharmaceutical care delivery in developing countries: A case study of Benin

Dr Thierry Oscar Edoh,University of Bonn & German Federal Army University of Munich, Germany

Case Studies 2

A Multilingual Expert System for Ubiquitous Diseases Diagnosis (MESUDD)

Dr John Oladosu, Lecturer, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria

Community-based eHealth promotion for safe motherhood- A case study from Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan

Dr Shariq Khoja, Director AKDN eHealth Resource Centre, Aga Khan University, Kenya

Business models for effective service delivery: Rural Health Systems

Changing African healthcare through private sector technology innovations

Steve Landman, CEO, Carego International, Kenya & USA

Leveraging telehealth to improve child maternal health

Iboun Sylla, Business Development Manager, Texas Instruments, USA

National e-health policy development: The Commonwealth approach

Dr Sylvia Anie, Director, Social Transformation Programmes Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, UK, and Dr Adesina Iluyemi and Tom Jones^,Directors, TinTree International eHealth and Consultants, Commonwealth Secretariat, UK

PANEL DISCUSSION

What are the best practice achievements that can be replicated across the continent?

MODERATOR

Professor Yunkap Kwankam, Executive Director, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), Switzerland

PANEL MEMBERS

Lucy Fulgence Silas, Country Director for Tanzania, D-Tree International

Dr Moretlo Molefi, MD, Telemedicine Africa, South Africa

Dr Catherine Omaswa, Chairperson, National eHealth Committee, Uganda

Dr Wuleta Lemma, Director, Tulane Technical Assistant Program (TUTAP) Ethiopia

WORKSHOP 1

Open source healthcare information systems

Nurhizam Safie, United Nations University, International Institute of Global Health (UNU-IIGH), Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia

Open Source health information systems offer an alternative to proprietary healthcare information systems. Currently, most developing countries have a tight financial budget for their healthcare services and cannot afford the high cost of licence fees imposed by proprietary healthcare information system providers. Therefore, open source healthcare information systems are an attractive alternative to be introduced in the healthcare services of developing countries. By using open source healthcare information systems, the healthcare providers such as hospitals and clinics can improve the efficiency of services, reduce licensing and maintenance costs in managing information systems, as well as catering for future scaleability and growth.

Among the available open source healthcare information systems, MEDICAL has been chosen for this workshop because MEDICAL is a multi-user, highly scaleable and centralised system which provides the following functionality:

Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
Hospital Information System (HIS)
Health Information System

This workshop is intended for users who want to get a better introductory functional understanding of MEDICAL. The workshop offers a thorough knowledge in usability and understanding of two critical modules, namely Patient Management and Financial Management.

Objectives

Having attended this workshop, participants should be able to:

Understand the concept of open source health information systems.
Understand the functional concepts of MEDICAL modules, namely Patient Management and Financial Management.
Understand the development concepts and architecture of MEDICAL.
Workshop Content

Introduction to MEDICAL and Basic Settings

Introduction to MEDICAL: Vision and Mission
Architecture: Supported operating systems, databases & ERPs
The modular concept framework
The MEDICAL development environment.
Introduction to Sourceforge and SVN
Introduction to Transifex: The translation and localization portal

Patient Management

Patient registration
Emergency department /ambulatory
Outpatient/In-patient
Admission, discharge & transfer (ADT)
Appointment & scheduling
Resource scheduling
Medical record management
Report & statistics

Financial Management

Charging, billing & invoicing
General ledgers
Accounts receivable/payable
Cash book management
Reporting

WORKSHOP 2

Using theCasemix system for health finance management

Prof Dr Syed Aljunid, Professor of Health Economics and Senior Research Fellow, UN University International Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia

This workshop is designed to introduce participants to the Casemix system for enhancement in quality and efficiency of healthcare services . Casemix experts from the UN University International Institute for Global Health will share their experience in implementing Casemix systems in a number of developing countries globally. The workshop will provide an overview of Casemix, its evolution from the first version introduced in the 1980s by Professor Robert Fetter from Yale University, to the present day where the system has been implemented in more than one hundred countries worldwide. Minimum dataset requirements for Casemix systems will be discussed in detail, including requirements for diagnoses and procedures coding using the ICD classification system. Benefits of using Casemix as a prospective provider payment mechanism under social health insurance programmes will be presented in this workshop. Software currently available to support implementation of Casemix system will be demonstrated including the recently launched the UNU-CBG Casemix Grouper, a universal, dynamic and advanced grouper software. Proposed plan for implementation of Casemix system under the UNU-IIGH programme will be presented in this Workshop.

Workshop Objectives:

At the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

Understand the concept of the Casemix system
Appreciate the role of Casemix in enhancing quality and efficiency of healthcare services.
Design the basic minimum dataset package for Casemix Implementation.
Have basic knowledge on the use of UNU-CBG Casemix Grouper

Workshop Content:

Casemix:: An introduction
Minimum Dataset for the Casemix system
Supporting software for Casemix
Implementation of Casemix in developing countries for health financing

To register as a delegate, log on to www.aitecafrica.com or email info@aitecafrica.com

September 28, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Non-communicable Diseases, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Arogya World announces diabetes prevention mHealth program in India

Arogya World, a US based NGO, in association with Nokia, will be launching a large-scale diabetes prevention mHealth program in India. The diabetes awareness program aims to reach one million people over the course of the next two years through the use of text messages, which will be translated in multiple languages, catering to the diverse population in India.

The announcement was made at the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York City.

For more information, read the official press release here.

September 26, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs): The low hanging fruit for mHealth

As the New York UN meeting on Non Communicable Diseases NCDs draws to a close, one big takeaway that everyone seems to agree on is that NCDs are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. This may be bad news; however it does present some tremendous opportunities for mHealth in developing countries. NCDs include cardiovascular conditions, some cancers, chronic respiratory conditions and type 2 diabetes. These conditions account for 60% of all deaths worldwide, with 80% occurring in low and middle-income countries[1]. It’s time we put as much funding and emphasis on NCDs in developing countries as we do with infectious diseases. NCDs have twice the number of deaths than infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria), maternal and perinatal conditions, and nutritional deficiencies (nature link). [2]

There is no refuting the fact that there are significant problems to overcome. The fact is Global health is challenging, but not all challenges are equal, some challenges are more challenging than other. Let me elaborate: If you are attempting to find a cure for HIV or a vaccine for malaria. This would be difficult from a scientific perspective; it would also be expensive and will likely take a long time to achieve. On the other hand, if you attempt to educate a population on diets, lifestyle changes, encourage exercise and reduce smoking; then you will likely prevent an epidemic of extreme proportions that is on the way to developing nations.

There are some low hanging fruits that can be tackled right now with existing mobile technology and know-how that would make a significant impact on the future of Global health. The traditional model of NCD episodic care in clinic and hospital-based settings is inadequate in developing countries due to scarce resources. The low hanging fruit could be plucked by using a mHealth diagnostic and monitoring platform to diagnose health conditions and address the common risk factors, such as smoking, diet and sedentary lifestyles. There are a multitude of studies that show how cellphones can have a positive impact on lifestyle and behavior changes, tying this notion to medical diagnostics and monitoring (continuous or periodic)could have a profound effect. There is a need for diversity in the funding criteria to allow funds to be diverted to develop viable and sustainable innovations in urban areas to address NCDs, there seems to be too much emphasis on rural health in developing nations. Yet there is strong evidence the urban dweller will be far worse off in the future due to the growing obesity rates.[3] Mobile operators in the developing world are in a great position to use their 3G networks to exploit the new health data and services that will surely be unleashed.

[1] World Health Organization Preventing Chronic Diseases: A Vital Investment (WHO, Geneva, 2005).

[2] Nature 450, 494-496 (22 November 2007) | doi:10.1038/450494a; Published online 21 November 2007

[3] Overweight and obesity in urban Africa: A problem of the rich or the poor? http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/465

September 26, 2011/by actualize