The study identifies the main
healthcare challenges in each study country, and estimates the
potential benefits over the next decade of large-scale mHealth
solutions being made available, leveraging the best evidence
available on mHealth pilots to date. It also examines the roles
stakeholders need to play to help make this a reality.
Based on the explosive growth in global
mobile phone penetration, a technology revolution is quickly gaining
pace in healthcare. Around the world, healthcare systems are
overburdened, costly and incapable of meeting the needs of a growing
population. According to a new study from The Boston Consulting Group
and Telenor Group, mobile health technology can offer sizeable
benefits to all countries, lead to economic growth and promise a
better life for individuals.
The study "Socio-Economic Impact
of mHealth " - commissioned by Telenor Group and carried out by
The Boston Consulting Group - is a comprehensive survey of the impact
that mHealth initiatives can have in 12 countries. What unites them
all is that mobile health technology can improve the quality, reach
and effectiveness of services while reducing costs and the overall
system burden.
Telenor Group has launched a number of
mobile health initiatives across its markets. In Norway, an assisted
living project helps the elderly stay longer at home through mobile
alarm systems. In Thailand, a mobile text messaging service provides
epidemic surveillance. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, a service called
Healthline provides patients with a simple number to dial for both
serious and non-serious medical needs. In India, mothers can obtain
critical information about prenatal health via their phones. In
Montenegro, a joint project with the EU provides a service for
remotely located elderly people, enabled by one touch on a button on
their mobile handset. In Serbia, mobile health technology is used to
increase the quality of medical registration and reporting for the
Roma community.
Among the key findings:
The necessary infrastructure is
already in everyone's hands: 7.4 billion mobile subscriptions
projected by 2015
The technology richness and
network capacity is sufficient, both on simple feature phones and on
smart devices
Currently, more than 500 mobile
health projects are taking place around the world
Costs in elderly care can be
reduced by 25% with mobile healthcare
Maternal and perinatal mortality
can be reduced by 30%
Twice as many rural patients can
be reached per doctor
Tuberculosis treatment compliance
can be improved by 30-70%
30% of smartphone users are likely
to use "wellness apps" by 2015
Costs related to data collection
can be reduced by 24%
Smartphone is the most popular
technology among doctors since the stethoscope
(Source: Reuters News)
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