Time to Get mHealth Moving

You can't see health data as they flow from clinic to decision-maker — but they are absolutely critical for informing good policies and allocating resources appropriately.

Countless lives are lost each year because of limited access to health information. If an infectious disease breaks out in a remote village, for example, it can take weeks for surveillance data collected on paper to reach central systems — and in that time, the outbreak could have become an epidemic.

But equipped with a mobile phone, a health worker in a remote area can send real-time data on symptoms observed in an outbreak to the health ministry.

Using mobile phones in this way, known as mHealth, can dramatically reduce the damage caused by disease. It can also prevent drug stock-outs and improve patient care.

Developments in modern ICT — moving beyond the computer, fax and landlines to mobile devices — are key to improving the ease and efficiency of health data flows, ultimately giving people greater and more equitable access to health services.