Geneva, 23 July 2014 – The International Telecommunication
Union today announces that global healthcare company GSK and Public Health
England (PHE) will join Be He@lthy, Be Mobile, an initiative which it leads in
collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The new partnership and the continued evolution of digital health around the
world are being discussed at the business events of the 2014 Commonwealth Games
programme taking place in Glasgow, Scotland from 23 July to 2 August. Be He@lthy
Be Mobile partners already include
BUPA,
Verizon and the
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
Associations (IFPMA), the African Development Bank and The NCD
Alliance.
“Non-communicable diseases are the single greatest factor contributing to
mortality and the overall disease burden in developed countries and emerging
economies alike,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré welcoming the
partnership. “Where m-Health is concerned, ITU works with WHO to share our
long-standing experience and our competence in mobile technologies and
healthcare as well as our network of partners. We look forward to harness the
potential of these new partnerships with GSK and Public Health England to help
accelerate the adoption of mobile health interventions worldwide.”
Ramil Burden, Vice-President Developing Countries, GSK, said: “Mobile
technology is playing an ever increasing part in helping communities across the
globe access health information and services. We are exploring a number of ways
to harness this potential and are pleased to support Be He@lthy, Be Mobile. It
is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with a range of partners to help
initiate and scale up innovative programmes that support health workers and
patients alike.”
Launched in October 2012, the “Be He@lthy, Be Mobile” initiative looks at
developing best practices and bringing them to scale and is planned to run for
four years initially.
In its first phase, the initiative is focusing on deploying mobile health
interventions in areas such as diabetes, smoking cessation, hypertension,
cancers, wellness as well as training of health workers. More than 35 countries
have already expressed interest in participating. A national smoking cessation
programme via mobile phones is currently underway in Costa Rica reaching out to
the entire population and in June 2014 Senegal released a national m-Ramadan
campaign to help diabetics manage their diabetes during Ramadan. Zambia is also
planning to launch a national mobile cervical cancer programme.
Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE, an
executive agency of the Department of Health, stressed: “At Public Health
England, we have already seen the transformation brought about by mobile and
digital health programmes. I’m excited that the ‘Be He@lthy, Be Mobile’
initiative has managed to bring together so many key partners. We look forward
to working together to support this progressive area within public health.”
For more information, please see
FAQ on
Be He@lthy Be Mobile or contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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Monica Albertini
Communication Officer,
Telecommunication Development Bureau
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