MobileActive.org

Nearly 40 million people in Africa suffer from HIV/AIDS. African governments and international aid agencies have been working to combat this epidemic by vigorously promot- ing Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) programs. Despite the enormous subsidies offered by governments along with free Anti-RetroViral (ARV) drugs supplied by agencies, the introduction and implementation of HAART programs on a large scale has been limited by two fundamental problems: (a) lack of adherence to the ARV therapy regimen; (b) lack of accountability in drug distribution due to theft, corruption and counterfeit medication. In this paper, we motivate the case for SmartTrack, a telehealth project which aims to address these two problems facing HAART programs. The goal of SmartTrack is to create a highly reliable, secure and ultra low-cost cellphone-based distributed drug in- formation system that can be used for tracking the flow and consumption of ARV drugs in HAART programs. In this paper, we assess the potential benefit of SmartTrack using a detailed needs-assessment study performed in Ghana, using interviews with 516 HIV-positive rural patients in a number of locations across the country. We find that a system like SmartTrack would immensely benefit both patients and healthcare providers, and can ultimately lead to improved patient outcomes and better accountability.

Starts page 458.

This paper examines two parallel case studies to promote remote medical consultation in Ghana. These projects, initiated independently by different researchers in different organizations, both deployed ICT solutions in the same medical community in the same year. The Ghana Consultation Network currently has over 125 users running a Web-based application over a delay-tolerant network of servers. OneTouch MedicareLine is currently providing 1700 doctors in Ghana with free mobile phone calls and text messages to other members of the medical community. We present the consequences of (1) the institutional context and identity of the investigators, as well as specific decisions made with respect to (2) partnerships formed, (3) perceptions of technological infrastructure, and (4) high-level design decisions. In concluding, we discuss lessons learned and high-level implications for future ICTD research agendas.

This paper presents our work in the design of a
SDS for the provision of health information to caregivers of HIV
positive children. We specifically address the frequently debated
question of input modality in speech systems; touchtone versus
speech input, in a new context of low literacy users and a health
information service. We discuss our experiences and fieldwork
which includes needs assessment interviews, focus group sessions,
and user studies in Botswana with semi and low-literate users.
Our results indicate user preference for touchtone over speech
input although both systems were comparable in performance
based on objective metrics.

This presentation provides insight into current mobile health initiatives and the current global health landscape. The presentation outlines the Thai system as an example of health informatics in resource poor setting, and introduces areas of global health and SMS application. Rwanda's implementation of TRACnet and public health for monitoring of the national HIV/AIDS program is used as an example. The presentation focuses on developing a framework for mobile computing in global health, including: standardizing Health Metrics (HMN), standardizing approaches, and integrating SSM into broader public health information systems and enterprise health information architecture. The report concludes with a look into SMS applications in emergency response, program monitoring and reporting, and patient monitoring. Key challenges are listed.

This presentation provides an overview of the InSTEDD Global Platform for Early Disease Detection, Reponse, and Evaluation. The summary includes reviews the proportion of infections detected and proposes addressing these challenges by adopting a social network and cognitive model approach. The approach facilitates: Early identification of potential health threats and verification, assessment, and investigation of threats in order to recommend measures (public health and other) to control them. The presentation describes the indicator and event-based hybrid surveillance approach and gives two examples of collaborative testing in the field.

This paper takes a look at the potential evolution of mobile technology and services over the next ten years and discusses an mServices framework for building and deploying diverse mobile services. The paper also looks at the challenges of such an endeavor and the steps needed to achieve the vision.

The report suggests how mobile devices will be used for much more than voice communications in the coming years in mHealth, mGovernance, mEnterprise, and mPublic Safety. Supporting the projections are: a mapping of mobile penetration, mobile ecosystem dynamics and deployment and adoption of mobile technology in the developing world. The report summarizes the building blocks of a mobile services platform and concludes with an emphasis on public-private partnership and the innovative business models that will accompany these changes.

The “mHealth in the Global South: Landscape Analysis” report by Vital Wave Consulting examines in detail the current mHealth landscape and provides an in depth overview of mHealth's scope, it's impact on healthcare, and existing opportunities across developing regions. The report also analyzes critical success factors for making mHealth more widely availab;e through sustainable implementations.

This report is based on interviews with more than two dozen researchers, clinicians, and application developers, and on a review of a broad range of published papers and articles, web resources, and other materials.The report begins with an overview of the global wireless revolution in term of who is using the technology and how the technology is evolving. It then describes a variety of wireless health care applications that are currently available or under development: considers the impact these advances could have on potential providers, pateints and payers; and discusses key unresolved issues. The report concludes with a brief look at some likely future developments and their implications for healthcare.

This study is the result of a collaboration between Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, UNICEF Malawi, and UNICEF’s Division of Communications Innovations Team in an attempt to use mobile communication devices to facilitate the surveillance of child nutrition in Malawi. As part of the pilot study, health workers at three district growth monitoring clinics were trained to submit child nutrition data via mobile phone SMS (text messages). Using an open-source software platform (RapidSMS), this data was received by a central server and automatically analyzed for indicators of child malnutrition. Health workers received instant feedback messages confirming the information sent and provided additional directions if malnutrition was indicated by the data received. Finally, a website was created to provide the Malawian government and other stakeholders real-time access to this data and its analysis. The report details the pilot study’s findings and outline recommendations for the future use of RapidSMS in Malawi.

This pilot study yielded a number of findings that may be applicable to other development projects using similar mobile phone technology. The results of this particular program included: Significant reduction in data transmission delay compared to Malawi’s current paper-based system. increase in data quality reported by health workers, elimination of the need for time-consuming manual data-entry, increased two-way flow of information between stakeholders at the national government level and health workers in the field, increased system and personnel monitoring capabilities, and elimination of costs related to transporting paper forms and manually entering data.

However, technology can only aid development within a limited scope. The true value of this innovation will be dependent on several other factors, including the integration of RapidSMS into the larger context of health activities and policy making in Malawi; the willingness of the Government of Malawi to take ownership of the platform; the ability to build and develop local technical capacity; and the maintenance of training and monitoring at all levels of participation.

This report maps out what is known about a broad range of mobile and wireless technologies and the contributions that they are making towards achieving health care objectives in low and middle income countries.

The report is divided into six sections: overview of mHealth as a critical domain within eHealth, review of health-related applications associated with mobile technologies, exploration of how various technologies are being used to achieve health objectives, documentation of key leaders and partnerships that have emerged to test and expand mHealth in low and middle income countries, critical considerations based on early initiatives and research, and key recommendations for next steps in the area of mHealth.

The report is based on an intensive study of peer-reviewed literature, program evaluation and industry reports, grey literature, and communication with a broad range of stakeholders. Recommendations include that key mHealth stakeholders focus their energies on the testing and scale-up of interventions. These interventions should show promise in achieving the key health outcomes as laid out by the Millenium Development Goals (MDG's) for health. Further, the report recommends that the World Health Organization (WHO) serves as a convener of key partners and a broker of mHealth strategies, information, and frameworks.

The potential of mobile communication technologies to reduce professional isolation, facilitate the work of overstretched human resources, and yield cost savings and efficiency is recognized. However, the report concludes that technological solutions should be designed according to local realities and meet local needs in away that practically and measurably contributes to the MDG's or health.

The Vodaphone Policy Paper Series No. 4 is a compilation of reports that look specifically at the contribution of Mobile phones in healthcare. The reports focus on the basic voice and text potential of mobile phones and identify opportunities for improved efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery where service provider-customer communication is important.

Moving the debate forward are reports made by experts who provide an analysis of the healthcare situation and their view on the contribution of Mobile phones in healthcare. Their analysis highlights three areas where mobile applications offer potential value to healthcare providers: Tracking inefficiencies in service provision by improving communication between service providers and users, improving the effectiveness of healthcare (and the risk of serious complications) through improved self-management and monitoring of patients with chronic conditions, and increasing the ability of hard-to-reach groups to access healthcare services by reducing the barriers of inconvenience, confidentiality, and privacy.

The Office of Health Economics (OHE) Consulting, contribute an overall analysis of healthcare costs in Western Europe and an assessment of potential applications of mobile phones in that context. Health Economists at the Tanaka Business School of Imperial College in London, NHS Direct, the University of Dundee and other institutions provide a series of case studies.

Reports included:

Upward Trend in Healthcare Spending
Analysis of Calls to NIH Direct
Review of Characteristics and Benefits of SMS in Delivering Helthcare
Potential Uses of SMS Applications for the Control of Tuberculosis
Use of Mobile Technologies to Enhance Control of Type 1 Diabetes in young People: Economic Evaluation