Mobile Phones Aid Health Care Delivery Worldwide

Text Messages Inform on HIV/AIDS and Help Improve Maternal Health

Oct 16, 2009

Cell phones hold great potential for improving the lives of millions of poor people. Mobile health applications reach patients in remote and resource-poor areas.

"Can I get HIV after having sex for the first time?" is one of the free text messages teenagers sent to the "Learning about Living" project in Nigeria. The program by One World UK and the Nigerian Department of Education aims at preventing HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. Its MyQuestion service is anonymous, so teenagers need not fear judgment when asking for information.

Mobile Health Assists in Meeting Millennium Development Goals

A woman dies from complications in childbirth every minute — about 529,000 each year — the vast majority of them in developing countries (UNICEF). Innovators study how to enlist mobile technology in realizing the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):

The Grameen Foundation, an anti-poverty organization, sponsors a project in rural Ghana aimed at delivering health information to pregnant women. They want to find out how to use mobile phones to improve maternal health. Services will give health information to pregnant women and encourage them to seek care at local clinics. After the birth the system will answer questions about newborn care.

Text Messages Help Tuberculosis Drug Compliance

Cape Town, South Africa, has one of the highest tuberculosis (TB) infection rates in the world due to socio-economic and climatic factors. The drug treatment regime for TB is complex and must be strictly followed. Non-compliance makes the TB virus more resistant, wastes medicines and is frustrating for health workers. Dr. David Green, a health consultant in Cape Town, saw the connection between TB treatment compliance and Short Message Service (SMS). Most patients fail to take their medication because they simply forget.

Pill Bottles Contain SIM Cards, Patients Receive SMS Reminders

SIMpill, a medical technology company, developed a system that monitors the patient's medication intake and sends a reminder in real time if the patient forgets to take the pills as prescribed. The pill container contains a SIM card and when opened the card delivers an SMS to a central server. If no SMS is received at the designated time, the server contacts the patient via cell phone. If the patient still does not respond the server alerts a caregiver to follow-up. The pilot study was very successful. The percentage of patients keeping up with their medication rose from 22% to 90%.

"mHealth Alliance" Brings Technology and Health Sector Together

Three of the world's leading foundations — the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation — have formed mHealth Alliance to bring technology, the health sector and humanitarian groups together. The foundation's goal is to maximize the benefits of mobile technology in health care delivery.

"When you consider that there are 2.2 billion mobile phones in the developing world, 305 million computers, but only 11 million hospital beds you can instantly see how mobiles can create effective solutions to address health-care challenges," said Terry Kramer , a Vodafone trustee.

The copyright of the article Mobile Phones Aid Health Care Delivery Worldwide in Poverty is owned by Christine Welter. Permission to republish Mobile Phones Aid Health Care Delivery Worldwide in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.