Over on the Business Fights Poverty blog Dr Scott Ratzan, VP Global Health at Johnson and Johnson, has written an interesting piece on the mHealth opportunity: “Keeping it Simple: Innovations in Mobile Health Technology”.

“Mobile technology does not make other health technologies obsolete—it builds upon them. In addition to filling a communications gap in places where no formal health system exists, mobile technology can also strengthen existing health channels by making it easy to link patients back to a broader health system. By extending the reach of health information and services to hard-to-reach populations, mobile technology can reduce the ongoing costs of supporting public health systems by providing a simple method of collecting data, monitoring disease outbreaks, and communicating important health information to the public. Innovations like mobile health technology need to be seen as an integral part of health policy, and governments and the private sector can work together toward this goal. There is an opportunity to make customized information accessible, understandable, and timely to advance global health and well-being in ways that were previously unimagined. It’s a promising opportunity that we should all embrace“