Title: Mobiles Phones for Health Worldwide: Moving From Hype to Context and Benefit
Author: Anne-Ryan Heatwole
Source: MobileActive.org
Date (published): 09/12/2011
Date (accessed): 13/12/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"We recently attended the mHealth Summit 2011 to learn more about the latest developments in the mobile health field. The conference brought together developers, practitioners, NGOs, representatives from corporate industries, and government officials to discuss the current state and future of mobile health.

Several key trends emerged among the discussions, focusing on: local buy-in and capacity building, the importance of building partnerships and trust among communities, and the need to transition from short-term pilots to scalable, sustainable mHealth projects.
…
Lessons Learned
The conference focused heavily on the potential of mobiles, but many of the speakers were careful to temper the promise with frank discussions about the reality of challenges in mobile health work such as local buy-in, sustainability, patient adherence, and technological capacity and capabilities. Ultimate takeaways from the mHealth Summit 2011 were that while there is a lot of hype around the industry, practitioners and developers are learning what works and what doesn’t and are able to begin more honest and productive conversations about what makes m-health work in the long run. By focusing on the actual beneficiaries, building local capacity and partnerships, and planning for scale and sustainability, m-health seems to finally be moving away from hype to more context-specific, integrated approaches and platforms. "

Title: Text-Messaging for Health Still Has Its Challenges
Author: Larisa Epatko>
Source: PBS NewsHour
Date (published): 05/10/2011
Date (accessed): 17/10/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"At first glance, text-messaging health alerts to poor, rural populations with widespread mobile phone use is a no-brainer. But what about the challenges of providing useful information and the simple act of re-charging phones in isolated spots?

On a planet of nearly 7 billion people, 5 billion use mobile phones -- and of those mobile phone subscribers about 70 percent are in emerging economies, according to U.N. estimates.

It's no wonder health organizations are looking to the massive medium as a means to inform the public on health news, and in particular help populations that don't have easy access to medical treatment.

The use of mobile phones for medical purposes, known as mHealth, has been around for a decade and new projects are launching all the time.

For example, pregnant women in countries such as India and South Africa who can't visit doctors regularly now can register their due dates and receive SMS -- or text -- messages with information that matches up with their babies' development, such as what food they should be eating.

In Bangladesh, parents can receive alerts telling them when to bring their children into clinics for vaccinations.

In the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced a new initiative to text-message tips and health information to motivate people to quit smoking.

But despite the promising implications for health, there are still some challenges to overcome -- as those involved in the effort can attest."

Title: New technologies altering healthcare landscape, says UN report
Author: Mićo Tatalović
Source: SciDev.net
Date (published): 20/09/2011
Date (accessed): 21/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"New ways of doing business, often triggered by novel technologies, have up-ended public and private sector roles in development — offering a new landscape of healthcare opportunities for women and children in developing countries, according to a UN report.

The fundamental change is that it is now the private sector that is creating infrastructure, and the public sector is arriving afterwards to exploit it for health purposes, according to the co-author of the report, Tore Godal, a medical doctor and special advisor on global health to the Norwegian prime minister.

The report, 'Innovating for Every Woman, Every Child', published last week (12 September) by The Lancet, highlights business models that could harness new infrastructure to improve the health of women, children and infants in low-income countries."

Title: Smart Connect: a SMS communication appliance for rural healthcare
Author: Eric Blantz
Source: ICTWorks
Date (published): 06/07/2011
Date (accessed): 14/07/2011
Type of information: blog post/article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"SMS’s reach and reliability, combined with its popularity among users, make it particularly attractive to those working on applications for the developing world, where Internet and smart phones are not yet widely available or affordable.
...
Enter Smart Connect, a “communication appliance” developed by PATH and Inveneo which uses SMS to improve the reliability and performance of one of the most important systems in all of global health: the medical “cold chain.”
...
We decided to make Smart Connect a facility based device. Even though it has many parts in common with a cell phone, it is constructed to be secured in place. We did this to improve security of the device, to ensure that the device was associated with the health facility, to allow it to connect with external sensors and to make it possible to connect to an external antenna for improved reception.

One of the first applications for Smart Connect is temperature monitoring of vaccine refrigerators. Refrigerators which regularly drop below freezing are quite common – so it is important to bring these to the attention of cold chain managers. Temporary power disruptions and breakdowns are also a problem since they lead to vaccines getting too hot.
...
Previously, refrigerator temperatures were tracked and recorded by hand with long delays in collecting the records. Now Smart Connect records the refrigerator temperature and sends out alert messages when there is a problem. Messages are sent to a web site and then automatically relayed to service technicians. A daily summary of refrigerator temperatures is also sent to the web site so that the manager can understand how well the equipment is functioning.

Beyond temperature monitoring, Smart Connect has the capacity to run a range of additional applications. For example, the Smart Connect deployment in Vietnam includes an application to track the use of vaccines so that that “stock outs” can be avoided. In the future, we plan for Smart Connect to be used with a bar code scanner to be able to read tags on vaccines when they arrive, and a printer to be able to provide receipts of test results to patients.

With Smart Connect we have seen that a small amount of communication delivered by SMS can have a big impact. By “thinking outside of the phone” we have created a custom communication device that meets the specific needs of rural health facilities and improves healthcare services in communities in Nicaragua, Vietnam and beyond."

Title: eMOCHA: Android Data Collection for mHealth
Author: Anne-Ryan Heatwole
Source: MobileActive.org
Date (published): 21/03/2011
Date (accessed): 22/03/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Using mobiles for data collection is increasingly common, particularly in the area of mobile health and with a focus on community health workers. eMOCHA is a program using a smartphone Android application for storing and transmitting data easily.

Developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education, eMOCHA (which stands for “Electronic Mobile Open-source Comprehensive Health Application”) uses video, audio, touchscreen quizzes, GPS and SMS to collect and analyze large amounts of data. Larry William Chang, director of field evaluations for eMOCHA, explains in an interview with MobileActive.org that the inspiration for developing the tool came out of researchers’ experiences in the field and their desire to build solutions to gaps in health care data collection systems.
...
eMOCHA is an open-source Android application, and runs on all current versions of Android phones...One of the most important features that eMOCHA offers is increased security – the servers and data sent from the phones are encrypted, and data stored on the phones is password protected and stored in the phones’ internal databases. The interactive nature of eMOCHA means that community health workers and researchers can use it not only as a means of data collection, but also for educational purposes.

Another key feature of eMOCHA is its integration with SMS. Chang explains that although the usual method of using eMOCHA in the field is for a community health worker to use the provided smartphone as a demonstration tool, the team realized they also needed to be able to communicate with larger, non-smartphone owning populations. The eMOCHA team added the ability for the application to receive SMSs from patients and to send out SMSs in order to directly target large numbers of users. "

Title: How Mobile Financial Services and Healthcare bolster each other
Source:GLG News
Publisher:Gerson Lehrman Group
Date (published):16/11/2010
Date (accessed):17/11/2010
Type of information:article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
„mHealth and Mobile Financial Services (MFS) sectors are inextricably linked to one another. Success of one sector will drive success of the other since MFS is vital to healthcare payments and healthcare is a critical use case to spur adoption and usage of new mobile payments systems. In other words, they drive demand for one other. Together, they also have the potential to extract efficiency gains around costs and improved overall service since they rely on common user bases, infrastructure “plumbing,” business operations and financial elements, and policy concerns. Recognizing these synergies and working cross-sector, stakeholders in both industries will be able to achieve greater impact, ultimately providing better access to healthcare and financial services for the unbanked. ”
via https://twitter.com/#!/auerswald

Title: Clearing m-health hurdles
Author: Lezette Engelbrecht
Source: ITWeb
Publisher: ITWeb Limited
Date (published): 18/11/2009
Date (accessed): 23/11/2009
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Language, cost and infrastructure challenges prevent mobile health technologies from being accessible to all.
The demand for ICT-assisted healthcare solutions like mobile health (m-health) is growing exponentially in developing countries due to the lack of suitably qualified doctors and specialists, says Yashik Singh, lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's department of tele-health.

Singh adds, however, that there are limitations to what m-health can do. “Like with all technology there are drawbacks. The prerequisite of the use of m-health applications by patients themselves is that they will be required to understand basic health information, medication, nutrition, and treatment regime to manage their disease.

“M-health may contribute to the patient gaining this knowledge, but in the short-term patients with low health literacy will not benefit as much.”
(via http://twitter.com/ICT_Works)

Title: Mobile Health: The potential of mobile telephony to bring health care to the majority
Authors: Rafael Anta, Shireen El-Wahab, and Antonino Giuffrida
Pages: 32 pp.
Source: Innovation Note
Publisher: Inter-American Development Bank
Date (published): 05/02/2009
Date (accessed): 22/11/2009
Type of information: technical note
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Acute and emerging epidemiological challenges are encouraging public sector to welcome
and support the development of increasingly innovative health care initiatives.
Given that nearly 70 out of every 100 people carry a mobile phone in the region, if the
easy-to-use mobile platform can be applied to health care to contribute to increased
equity, mobile care could also contribute to improved clinical outcomes and productivity,
as well as to better public health monitoring and education...
This paper examines the current and emerging trends in mobile health, with particular
emphasis on lessons learned and on potential opportunities for Latin America to apply
mobile services to health care efforts to benefit the majority of people.

Title: mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World
Author: Vital Wave Consulting
Pages: 70 pp.
Publisher: UN Foundation-Vodafone Foundation Partnership
Date published: 2009
Date accessed: 19/06/2009
Type of information: research publication
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf, 4,3mb)
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. mHealth for Development discusses issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It summarizes 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. The report examines the building blocks required to make mHealth more widely available through sustainable implementations.

mHealth for Development surveys the current landscape of mHealth, including profiles of over 50 mHealth programs across 26 developing countries. mHealth project application areas include education and awareness, remote data collection, remote monitoring , communication and training for healthcare workers, disease and epidemic outbreak tracking, and diagnostic and treatment support.