Using the Public Mobile Network for Health Care (“mHealth”) Ian Leslie [email protected] 19 January 2011.

Using the Public Mobile Network for Health Care (“mHealth”)

Ian [email protected]

19 January 2011

Context

• Based on investigation for China Mobile: Report out in February 2011

• Looking at existing and potential applications• Looking at drivers and inhibitors

• Global perspective but heavy China focus• Rather broad interpretation of mHealth

application

General Observations• No shortage of ideas• Distinction between mobile and non-mobile

communication is unhelpful, however:– The smallest global infrastructure gap is in mobile

communication. Inexpensive “smart” handsets means that this gap, if anything, will narrow.

– For the majority of the world’s population, the only port of interaction with information systems is the mobile handset

– The single electrical interface that is most widely deployed in the world is the micro USB port on mobile phones. More than any given power socket!

• Huge potential for transfer of innovation…

… but Need to Partition the Application Space

• By economy: developed, emerging, developing• By interaction with the health care system• By who perceives value: consumer/patient,

health care provider, government, NGO

• Classify China as “emerging” but lessons from China need to be abstracted

Most Developed mHealth App in China?

Application Types

Drug Anti-counterfeiting

Photo reproduced by permission of Sproxil

“plug-in” innovation

Mobile phone aberrometer

•Under $2•Uses mobile phone display•Two parts: lenses, software application that runs directly on phone•Diagnosis for near- and far-sightedness and astigmatism

Photo reproduced by permission of MIT

What We Didn’t Find

• Much evidence that people were building in evaluation to their applications

• Any evidence that information generated by mobile applications in general or mHealth applications in particular was being used to inform public health

Speculation

• Consumer led, self-help, “plug-in” innovation will flourish in developed world

• Innovation which requires interaction with the medical establishment will flourish in the emerging world

• Developing world will have distinct applications, but should transfer where possible from the others