Most people would wholeheartedly support a technology that could provide healthcare access to remote populations and significantly reduce the impact of health issues faced by low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). By all accounts, these types of populations still suffer from a host of mortality-limiting conditions from preventable obstetric complications to high infant and child mortality due to lack of proper nutrition and immunizations. The World Bank notes that although the mortality rate for children under five dropped from 12 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012, the numbers remain excessively high in LMICs. Some of the most prevalent conditions including diarrhea, malnutrition, pneumonia, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are all mainly preventable with proper education, decent standards of living, and a sturdy health system.
While standards of living and healthcare access in LMICs have seen only minimal improvements over the last decade, mobile phone coverage in LMICs has grown exponentially, with the International Telecommunication Union estimating that the number of mobile phone subscriptions is nearly equal to the population count in many of these countries. It makes sense that technologies that can capitalize on this new connectivity to bring a higher, more effective standard of health …show more content…
mHealth technologies include a wide variety of elements from software (“apps”) to wearable sensors and portable electronic devices with one common element: they assist with health intervention, management, and treatment and help organize and disseminate patient information, all through a caregiver’s or patient’s personal mobile
While standards of living and healthcare access in LMICs have seen only minimal improvements over the last decade, mobile phone coverage in LMICs has grown exponentially, with the International Telecommunication Union estimating that the number of mobile phone subscriptions is nearly equal to the population count in many of these countries. It makes sense that technologies that can capitalize on this new connectivity to bring a higher, more effective standard of health …show more content…
mHealth technologies include a wide variety of elements from software (“apps”) to wearable sensors and portable electronic devices with one common element: they assist with health intervention, management, and treatment and help organize and disseminate patient information, all through a caregiver’s or patient’s personal mobile