Mobile technology for global health
10 March 2009
The mHealth for Development report, published by Vodafone and United Nations Foundation, surveys the benefits of mobile technology to improve health care across the world.
mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World Publisher: United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation, 2009
The transformational power of mobile
networks and devices is helping drive the adoption of scalable and
sustainable health initiatives, particularly in the developing world. The long-term goal and expectation underlying all these efforts is
that mHealth programs will have a significant and lasting positive
impact on health outcomes such as reduced infant mortality, longer life
spans, and decreased contraction of disease. This publication through its research
and selection of case studies evidences the potential of mHealth—the
use of mobile communications (mobile phones and PDAs) for health
services and information.
This field has the potential to transform the approach to a variety
of healthcare challenges in the developing world by accelerating the
collection and storage of patient data, training rural professionals
with health updates and guidance, and personalising to new levels the process of patients receiving and engaging in available medical treatment. As the case studies in the report demonstrate, governments,
companies, and non-profit groups are already developing mHealth
applications to improve healthcare and consequently save lives. These
new mobile applications, bypassing the fixed-line solutions, are
creating new pathways for sharing health-related information, even in
the most remote and resource-poor environments. This report is designed to move the field one step further in the
achievement of this ambitious goal by outlining the current state of
the field, highlighting mHealth initiatives taking root around the
globe, and outlining the building blocks required for successful and
sustainable mHealth initiatives.
