mHealth for emerging economies: social & economic burst of hope?

Data from the World Bank indicates that 63 out of every 1,000 Indian children die before reaching the age of five, with undernourishment taking a heavy toll. "We often forget how easily babies die!" says Anne Marie Thow, a health policy specialist from the University of Sydney.

 

Mobile technologies have become ubiquitous among health care consumers and professionals. Simultaneously, the healthcare industry is moving towards a delivery model that is patient-centered and value-based. Mobile technologies can facilitate the shift in the relationship between clinicians, payers, life sciences companies and patients that is required to implement this new model.

 

mHealth is about practicing medicine and public health, supported by mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and PDAs, for health services and information; but also to help emotional states correlative with failing health status. mHealth is a sub-segment of eHealth, the use of ICT for health services and information. mHealth applications include e.g.:

·         use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data;

·         delivery of healthcare information to practitioners, researchers and patients;

·         real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, and direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine);

·         improved ability to diagnose and track diseases;

·         timelier, more actionable public health information;

·         expanded access to ongoing medical education and training for health workers

mHealth emerged in recent years largely as an application for poor & developing countries, driven by the explosive rise of mobile phone penetration in low-income nations. It a means to provide greater access to larger segments of a population in remote areas of the country, as well as improving the capacity of health systems in such countries to provide quality healthcare.

From a business perspective, the health care and life sciences sector is recognized as one of the top three fields (along with consumer products and the financial services industry) likely to experience new mobile business model growth in the next five years, according to several market analysts. Capabilities offered by mobile technologies are fast being appreciated by the health care industry with a raft of devices, sensors, apps and other programs being developed that target chronic conditions, telemedicine and remote monitoring, patient data capture, electronic records, e-prescribing and the parallel industries of fitness and wellness. mHealth holds promise for improvement along the value chain – maximizing professionals’ time and productivity, improving quality, increasing access and equity, stimulating greater consumer involvement, and potentially decreasing costs, or perhaps equally as importantly, getting better value for the money invested. The extent to which stakeholders create user confidence through adequate privacy and security protections will play a key role in accelerating or retarding the adoption of mHealth and the realization of benefits.

mHealth brings more than just new technologies. It facilitates a new way of interacting and providing health care. Accordingly, an integrated mobile strategy should be a key component of growth strategies for providers, health plans and biopharma and med-device companies. Innovation and platform leadership are widely seen as the two most important capabilities in mobile and any platform adopted needs to be applicable or interoperable across the entire health care industry.

Mainly in poor & developing economies, mHealth will help to transform health and social care by enabling providers to respond effectively to rising demand for health and social care services, mainly in rural/remote areas. A key driver is the critical requirement to find solutions that provide a more cost-effective way of meeting the growing demands for such services whilst giving service users the support and confidence to help them manage their own condition more effectively. This is not just about adopting the technology but is about integration and service redesign. mHealth will be most effective if adopted as an alternative way of engaging with and supporting service users and not simply as an “add on” or supplementary to the traditional ways of working.

Start-ups like India-based Mobilitas (http://mobilitas.co/ ) have acknowledged the unique opportunity to reconcile business benefits and corporate social investments, and are innovating with mHealth solutions targeting the needs and constraints of poor & emerging economies.

However numerous & complex challenges remain to be tackled, e.g.:

·         data security & confidentiality;

·         accessibility & affordability;

·         productivity & efficiency improvements;

·         systems & databases interoperability;

·         data-heavy analytics & business/operations intelligence;

·         business model viability & ROI; and,

·         behavior & mindset change of health practitioners.

 

So the jury is still out…. What do you think? Do you believe in mHealth?

What are the concrete benefits for emerging countries?

And how will the bottom-of-the-pyramid population truly improve its daily life with mHealth?

Will less babies dies in poor rural areas of Africa, South America &/or Asia?

 Join the debate….

 

(sources: own web search, Wikipedia, Deloitte, Mobilitas)