When it comes to using mobile technology for healthcare applications, there is plenty developed nations could learn from activities going on in emerging nations.
That was the theme sounded during the closing session at the 3rd annual summit on mHealth held by the World Congress. That session, “An mHealth Prescription,” suggested that all countries — rich or poor, established or emerging — have an opportunity to harness mobile communications as a means of reforming the healthcare system’s dominant focus on reactive care and treatment, encouraging a shift to preventive strategies.
The motivation is simple: the cost of the current system is unsustainable both for developed and developing nations, said David Aylward, senior advisor for global health and technology with Ashoka, a 25-year-old organization focused on enabling “social entrepreneurs” around the world. For example, in India there are only 60 physicians and 130 nurses or midwives for every 100,000 people. That compares with about 267 physicians for every 100,000 people in the United States, he said.
“The focus should not be on healthcare, it should be on health,” Aylward said.
The mobile phone offers an opportunity to help distribute healthcare responsibilities, with an eye to relegating hospitals more to their proper place as a last resort for care rather than the first stop, as is so often the case in the current system, he noted. The challenge is that the existing regulatory and reimbursement structure in places such as the United States must be refined in order to accommodate mobile technology, and that will take time.
Also offering practical perspective on mHealth was Kate Canales, creative director for Frog Design, which is working on a number of so-called mHealth initiatives in the developing world (some sponsored by business such as insurance companies, others backed by non-profits). mHealth refers to applications and care solutions that are supported by mobile phones, tablet computers and other mobile devices.