Mobile Health (mHealth) Information and Resources

Mobile health, or mHealth, uses mobile technologies as tools and platforms for health research and healthcare delivery. The following resources provide additional information on mHealth, and its impact on global health.

• Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine December 2012 special edition: 2012 mHealth Summit conference abstracts

• How to Fulfill the True Promise of "mHealth" by Francis Collins, NIH director, Scientific American, July 2012
• Mobile Health (mHealth) Summer Institute - from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)
• Mobile Technology and Health Care - from Winter 2011 NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine
• mHealth Summit - An annual event exploring the role of mobile technologies in biomedical research

Related News and Resources from Other Organizations

• NIH supported research on Using Cell Phone Data to Curb the Spread of Malaria - Harvard School of Public Health News, October 11, 2012
• Baby Monitor: Developing a mobile screening platform for low-resource settings [VIDEO] from the Duke Global Health Institute

Publications | Apps | Nonprofits | Educational Institutions | Tech Corporations

Publications

• mHealth: New horizons for health through mobile technologies - Global Observatory for eHealth series, Volume 3, from the World Health Organization (WHO), a series of detailed case studies highlighting best practices in mHealth in different settings

• Preventing and managing cardiovascular diseases in the age of mHealth and global telecommunications: Lessons from low- and middle-income countries [PDF 1.8M] - A 16-page paper presented in July of 2009 to the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease.

• Barriers and Gaps affecting mHealth in Low and Middle Income Countries - Written by The Earth Institute at Columbia University and mHealth Alliance, this white paper was officially launched on May 3, 2010 at the mHealth Alliance and USAID-supported eConference on mHealth for maternal and child health.

• K4Health mHealth Toolkit - An online collection of information and articles on mHealth, produced with the goal of making mHealth information easy to find and easy to use for policy makers, program managers and service providers. The toolkit is maintained by Knowledge for Health, a project implemented by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs in partnership with FHI and Management Sciences for Health.

Mobile Health and Bioinformatics Software Applications

• OpenMRS - A community-developed, open-source, enterprise electronic medical record system platform. Designed specifically to respond to those actively building and managing health systems in the developing world, where AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria afflict the lives of millions.

• eMOCHA (electronic Mobile Open-source Comprehensive Health Application) - A free open-source application, developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education. eMOCHA is designed to assist health programs in developing countries improve provider communication and education, as well as patient care, by coordinating wireless devices with local server-based clinical training and patient care support services.

• National Library of Medicine (NLM) Mobile Resources - A centralized collection of mobile-friendly websites and apps from NLM, including resources by device and category.

• EpiSurveyor - A free mobile-phone-and-web-based data collection system and the first web 2.0 application for international development and global health.

• FrontlineSMS - Free, open-source software that turns a laptop and a mobile phone into a central communications hub. Once installed, the program enables users to send and receive text messages with groups of people through mobile phones.

• RapidSMS - A free and open-source framework for dynamic data collection, logistics coordination and communication, leveraging basic short message service (SMS) mobile phone technology.

• Cell-PREVEN - An interactive-computer system using cell phones and the Internet for real-time collection and transmission of data.

• CONNECT/NHIN - A software solution that lets federal agencies securely link their existing health information technology systems to the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), an information highway for health data exchange that connects more than 20 federal agencies.

Nonprofit Organizations

• mHealth Alliance/United Nations Foundation - An umbrella organization to complement, draw together and expand upon the mHealth initiatives of multiple organizations around the world. It cultivates cross-sector, public and private collaboration in support of innovation and projects that address global health needs.

• HUB: HealthUnBound - A site aiming to connect those who care about transforming health systems to improve health outcomes in low and middle-income countries. Founded by the mHealth Alliance and the World Health Oganization's Health Metrics Network.

• InsTEDD - An innovation lab for tools designed to strengthen networks, build community resilience and improve early detection and response to major health-related events and natural or human-caused disasters. Its mission is to harness the power of technology to improve collaboration for global health and humanitarian action.

• PopTech - A global innovation network of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who have come together to explore the social impact of new technologies. Members of the PopTech network have collaborated on dozens of new innovations with world-changing potential, in areas ranging from mobile healthcare, carbon credits and solar energy.

• Text to Change - A non-profit organization devoted to improving health education and medicine adherence via mobile telephony in developing countries.

• mHIMSS - A globally-focused mobile initiative offered by Healthcare Information and Management Systems (HIMSS) to drive positive, transformational change in health and healthcare through the best use of IT.

Educational Institutions

• BIOPHICS/ Mahidol University - The center of excellence for biomedical and public health informatics located at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. The center has set its mission not only to serve Thailand’s needs but also to reach other countries, especially those in the same tropical environment.

• Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing - Encourages interdisciplinary research projects in the field of informatics, focusing on distributed systems technology, information theory and information management, human factors and human-computer interaction and study of the social impacts of information technology.

Hardware and Communications Technology Corporations

• Microsoft Research - Dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies. Microsoft Research also collaborates openly with colleges and universities worldwide to advance the field of computer science.

• WellDoc - A healthcare company that develops technology-based solutions to improve diabetes outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

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