developing world
Posted by SushmitaNY on Aug 20, 2009
Newsweek recently did a story on this discovery entitled Dial "D" for Diagnosis. The story makes the connection to what we reported on ealier: the potential of mobile tech for disease diagnosis.
This potentially socially transforming technology was the result of a challenge to a class of Biomedical Engineering graduate students at University of California, Berkeley, by Professor Daniel Fletcher.
He asked the students to respond to an imaginary scenario: You are hiking in a remote village where an unknown infectious disease is spreading. What could you build with only a camera cell phone and a backpack of lenses that might help identify the disease? The product: the Cellscope (please bear with the intro advert) and here is the YouTube video.
Posted by LeighJaschke on Jul 07, 2009
mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World data sheet 5461 Views
Abstract:
Mounting interest in the field of mHealth—the provision of health-related services via mobile communications—can be traced to the evolution of several interrelated trends. In many parts of the world, epidemics and a shortage of healthcare workers continue to present grave challenges for governments and health providers. Yet in these same places, the explosive growth of mobile communications over the past decade offers a new hope for the promotion of quality healthcare. Among those who had previously been left behind by the ‘digital divide,’ billions now have access to reliable technology. There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the potential of mobile communications to radically improve healthcare services—even in some of the most remote and resource-poor environments.
This report examines issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It helps the reader to understand mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heath care initiatives. It also examines building blocks required to make mHealth more widely available through sustainable implementations. Finally, it calls for concerted action to help realize mHealth’s full potential. The report is organized into the following sections:
- 1. Identifying the potential of mobile phones to improve health in the developing world
- 2. Defining mHealth within the context of eHealth
- 3. Meeting health needs through a broad array of mHealth applications
- 4. Examining the impacts of mHealth projects
- 5 Assessing mHealth and future health needs in developing countries
- 6. Identifying the building blocks for sustainable and scalable mHealth programs
- 7. Understanding the incentives for multiple players: mHealth value chains
- 8. A call for action
- 9. Looking forward
- 10. Compendium of mHealth projects
