The European Parliament to host a mHealth debate 6 May 2015

The EU40 (a network of young Members of the European Parliament who have a mission to serve young Members under the age of 40) will next week be hosting a breakfast mHealth debate on Emerging Trends in the Evolution of mHealth in collaboration with their corporate partners the PR consultancy Cambre Associates.

“This event aims to explore the future of mHealth services and exchange views on the potential of mobile technology to meet challenges in the health area, in particular investigating emerging trends. Some key questions will be answered during the debate: are prescription mobile applications the future? If so, how should such applications be regulated? What would be the benefits and the limitations linked to such apps? What are other innovative trends linked to mHealth that we can expect in the coming years?”

Contributors will include:

Sophie Crousse, VP European Public Affairs, GSK Consumer Healthcare
Philippe De Backer, MEP Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (Host)
John Higgins, Director General, DigitalEurope
Dave Keating, Journalist, European Voice (Moderator)
Max Müller, Chief Strategy Officer, DocMorris
Dee O’Sullivan, Managing Director, myhealthapps.net
Peteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit for eHealth and Wellbeing, DG Connect EC

Register here (you will need your passport number for access to the EU Parliament building) or contact Camelia Vasile ([email protected]) for more information.

*** UPDATE: Wed 6 May 2015 ***

I tried my best to follow the event on Twitter (hashtags used included #mHealthTrends, #EU40, etc) and was left a little disappointed. With no live stream (this is the young set in the seat of the European Parliament in 2015 right?) it just appeared to be a discussion of general mHealth trends and whether or not privacy was important.

For an introduction to mHealth check out this presentation I gave at the 2013 Digital Health Summit in Turkey.

I realised my expectations might be a bit high when I saw a few pictures tweeted from the event (note the abundance of writing pads, the absence of a single tablet/iPad, the odd smattering of sturdy ThinkPads, etc). Perhaps it’s to do with the success of my local CoderDojo but I see more advanced technology being used in my local school bus and it’s a good reminder that it takes a much greater level of understanding to teach mHealth to others than it does to appreciate it for yourself.