Are Cell Phones Leading the mHealth Revolution?
Nellie Bristol
OFF THE PRESS
Health workers are tapping into mobile phones in the developing world as use of the portable handhelds leapfrogs exponentionally over landlines and lagging Internet access.
In fact, cell phone use in developing countries is driving a whole new industry in health-related electronic applications for programs in the most remote areas that range from diagnosis and health worker education to social marketing and the flow of emergency food rations.
Global health and technology experts cite dozens of projects using electronic methods (known as "eHealth") that are increasing data collection opportunities and leveraging meager health care work forces. But the technology explosion is facing many of the same problems as in developed countries: lack of interoperability, funding shortfalls and scant solid evidence of outcomes improvement. It also faces hurdles unique to global health - sustainability, inability to scale, and hardware and infrastructure challenges.
Promising new technologies are being developed, including low-energy use computers that are functional in challenging environments, and solar-generated power sources. But the biggest boon to extending the technology revolution to remote rural areas is coming from an unexpected source and, in something unusual in global health, being driven by the private sector: the explosion of cell phones in the developing world, particularly in Africa.
