Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
technology is a promising direction forward in
responding to both of these disease challenges.
The rapid proliferation of mobile phones and their
wide availability in developing countries means
that more traditional health care services can be
realigned with their usage. In effect, mHealth can
relieve the resource burden on more traditional
health care service providers like local hospitals
and clinics and can play an important role at re-
gional, community, and individual levels. There
are however many shortcomings and associated
challenges in the successful deployment and usage
of these technologies at a wide scale in develop-
ing countries. In this section we highlight these
challenges.
workers in the use of new systems, to educate them
of their benefits, and to either upgrade or overhaul
outdated legacy systems and adapt them to the
new technological needs for mHealth initiatives.
Infrastructure Challenges
A large section of the developing world still lacks
access to proper medical facilities such as hospi-
tals and clinics. A solution implemented in many
countries is the introduction of mobile clinics to
travel to remote areas to deliver medical care.
There is also a need to continue the expansion of
wireless Internet and cellular data infrastructure to
keep up with the rapid increase of cell phone users
in previously inaccessible terrains. To implement
an mHealth environment, it is essential to form
the necessary foundation for the inexpensive and
inefficient exchange of data, even in the remotest
of places. In countries like Malawi, this has been
a challenge due to the country's cell phone opera-
tors' high charge on general data services and rural
voice services (http://www.infodev.org, 2003).
In terms of wireless infrastructure, the cost of
wireless phones and Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
services is a third of the more traditional copper
or landline services. A wireless connection can-
not be stolen compared to traditional copper-wire
infrastructure. It is necessary for governments to
cautiously invest in these technologies, which will
form the backbone of future mHealth applications.
These new technologies can offer developing na-
tions an opportunity to leapfrog the digital divide.
It is important for governments and policy makers
to invest in wireless infrastructure and to introduce
standardization and interoperability for structured
health data. Governments also need to define what
mHealth means within the national health system.
Telecom providers need to be rewarded for provi-
sion of mHealth services. In cases where people
cannot afford handsets, free handsets and loaned
mobiles need to be provided. To convince opposing
parties of the need of infrastructure expansion, a
proof of concept by using the simplest available
Technological Challenges
Today, most of the world's population lives within
proximity of a cell phone tower. The major chal-
lenges associated with technology are related to
technology adoption. There are logistical, politi-
cal, cultural, and financial barriers when trying to
implement technology improvements targeted at
the mHealth sector. A lot of the developing world
is on the underprivileged side of the digital divide.
There is either a severe lack or nonexistence of
hospital legacy systems in developing nations,
which could be used to host mHealth services
such as patient records for retrieval over mobile
phones, etc. Unlike in the developed world, where
medical records are increasingly electronic, medi-
cal records are still paper based in the developing
world. For mHealth initiatives that monitor indi-
vidual patients, this is a problem, since electronic
medical history access is a prerequisite to monitor
patients requiring palliative care or with a history
of medical ailments related to their present condi-
tion. To replace existing systems may be met with
an opposition to change. In the developing world,
the proliferation of expensive smartphones is also
not that dominant for the general population. It is
important for governments and policymakers to
invest substantially in the training of health care
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