Lezette Engelbrecht with South African ITWeb has an optimistic piece on how “Mobile Heralds Healthcare Revolution” and “M-health is the next big step in terms of healthcare delivery”.
“With developing countries leading cellphone subscriber growth, while facing pressing healthcare needs, mobile technologies are emerging as key platforms for medical information and services.”
Yashik Singh, lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s department of tele-health, says m-health is the next big step in terms of healthcare delivery: “Mobile penetration is very high in SA, with GSM coverage estimated at 93%. Leveraging this infrastructure is vital and the benefits to healthcare are limitless.”
The report also profiles several m-health programmes that have been rolled out in South Africa including:
> Project Masiluleke, a PopTech Funded collaborative effort between the Praekelt Foundation, iTeach, LifeLine, Nokia, and MTN that uses the 120 spare characters in “please call me” messages to deliver a message advising on HIV education and awareness. The project sends out one million text messages throughout South Africa each day encouraging people to be tested and treated for HIV/Aids. The freefone numbers in these messages connect the recipients to existing HIV and TB call centres, where trained operators provide callers with healthcare information, counselling and referrals to local testing clinics.
> SIMpill, a SIM card enabled Mobile/Medicine bottle (developed by Tellumat) which monitors whether patients take their “chronic medication” at the scheduled time.
> “Ericsson Health Services” which apparently supports mobile treatments through the support of healthcare workers, who collect medical information and photos of people with ailments, with remote diagnosis and prescription medicines.
Konstantinos Tzingakis, Director of Innovations at Ericsson, says the convergence of health and mobile has made the possibility of healthcare a reality for everyone. “We have only begun to scratch the surface of what is possible through mobile technologies. Sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones, so much so that they are sometimes overlooked.”
Gustav Praekelt, MD, of the Praekelt Foundation, also comments on his belief that “self-service mobile systems” will be one of the major future developments: “The best way to have a lasting effect is to place more control in the hands of patients. Providing mobile services for patients to access health information and medical history will empower a holistic understanding of their health.”
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