Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The chapter will also discuss the different
uses of mobile technology. While there have been
numerous efforts on providing health care using
mobile devices, there has also been an increas-
ing interest in mobile technology as data logging
devices. For example, such mobile devices can
give patients the ability to input their vital signs
and other health-related information (symptoms,
side effects of medications, etc.) into medical
logging applications, which can be used to obtain
longitudinal health records for better analysis.
Other existing and potential health applications
include systems that are used to perform in-field
health diagnosis by health care workers, stor-
ing essential medical information for access in
emergencies, systems that provide instant access
to health insurance information, and applications
that obtain health-related contextual information
based on patient queries or proactively based on
the health records of the patient.
For such systems, a variety of questions must
be answered, including the following:
for health record access or due to privacy/
security concerns and other barriers (eco-
nomic, quality, health literacy)?
Health Challenges in
Developing Countries
Developing countries face an assortment of health
challenges, ranging from lack of infrastructure
needed to provide health care to all sectors of the
population, to new and evolving diseases, which
become more resistant to drug treatment than their
parent diseases, to the discovery that diseases that
are more or less containable in the developed world
are capable of becoming epidemic in the develop-
ing world (www.worldwatch.org, 2006). Further,
the developing world faces a shortage of health
care workers and adequate tools for diagnosis of
diseases in order to administer proper and timely
treatment. The shortage of hospitals, lack of eas-
ily commutable routes to health care facilities,
and various economic constraints for people in
remote areas prevent them from obtaining proper
health care diagnosis and have led to an increased
mortality rate. While one of the most important
aspects of health care (related to population and
socio-economic development) is reproductive
health (I. P. Chudi, 2011), the maternal mortality
rates in many countries are very high, e.g., the
World Health Organization estimates an average
of 1000 deaths per 100,000 live births in develop-
ing countries. According to the Federal Ministry
of Health in Nigeria (FMOH, 2003), only 13.9%
of the estimated annual births in that country take
place in health care facilities, which appears to
be primarily due to the lack of accessibility. In
countries with poor infrastructure (chaotic trans-
portation systems, inaccessible roads), it may take
days for a patient to reach a health care facility.
Another challenge is that many diseases evolve
and become more resistant to drugs. An example
of this is the avian influenza virus H5N1, whose
recent outbreaks have claimed many lives. The
emergence of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS has
•
In terms of infrastructure, what sort of
hardware and software are needed to real-
ize the full potential of these Mobile Health
applications, specifically in developing
countries, e.g., what cell phones and soft-
ware are needed on the mobile user side
to provide easy communication between
health personnel and users? Further, what
sort of data storage and data dissemination
are needed on the health care provider's
side? And how will connectivity issues be
addressed?
•
Allowing record logging facilities on the
phone poses security challenges as well.
How can patient logging and recording be
done safely and securely? How can secu-
rity be enforced in case these phones fall
into the wrong hands?
•
What is the resistance to the adoption and
usage of these kinds of systems, e.g., due to
already existing technologies/mechanisms
Search WWH ::
Custom Search