Mobile Health (mHealth) information and resources

Mobile health, or mHealth, uses mobile technologies as tools and platforms for health research and healthcare delivery.

Although cellphones and other new technologies are increasingly used in research and health care, very limited data are available to determine their impact. Fogarty's Mobile Health: Technology and Outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries program aims to support multidisciplinary teams to research possible new mHealth tools or interventions either for chronic diseases or for an array of other health issues, emphasizing the evaluation of health-related outcomes.

The collection of other online resources below includes publications, mHealth and bioinformatics software applications, and nonprofits, educational institutions and companies supporting mHealth efforts.

• Fogarty awards $4.4 million to advance mobile health
  Nov / Dec 2018 Global Health Matters
• Fogarty mHealth grantee news: Texting can enhance medical education in resource-limited settings
  Boston University School of Public Health news, February 27, 2018
• Customizing stroke prevention research in Pakistani population using mobile phone videos, text messages
  Nov / Dec 2017 Global Health Matters
• Tech designed for Africa helps US fight disease, save money
  Sep / Oct 2017 Global Health Matters
• Grantee news: Purdue researchers receive grant to improve mobile testing for anemia
  Purdue University news, September 8, 2017
• NIH funds research network to reduce stroke in Africa, including studying mobile health solutions
  Nov / Dec 2016 Global Health Matters
• Fogarty training helps build mHealth research capacity
  Jul / Aug 2016 Global Health Matters
• Fogarty posts mHealth training materials
  Sep / Oct 2016 Global Health Matters
• Grantee news: New smartphone attachment detects sickle cell disease
  Yale news, November 3, 3015
• Enlisting mHealth in the fight against river blindness
  Blog post by NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins, June 4, 2015
• New Apple ResearchKit open source framework to support medical research apps
  Apple news, March 9, 2015
• Related resource: ResearchKit for developers, including technical overview
• Lab-on-a-chip provides speedy disease diagnoses
  Jan/Feb 2015 Global Health Matters
• NIH launches new program to spur mobile health innovations
  Fogarty news, September 23, 2014
• Fogarty encourages use of technology in research
  May / Jun 2014 Global Health Matters
• Incorporating ICT into science and research in Peru
  Q and A with Fogarty and NIH grantee Dr Paticia Garcia
  May / Jun 2014 Global Health Matters
• Implementing technology to advance science
  Opinion by Fogarty Director Dr Roger I Glass
  May / Jun 2014 Global Health Matters
• Fogarty launches program to advance mHealth research
  Jan / Feb 2014 Global Health Matters
• Fogarty launches eCapacity program to spur technology use
  Mar / Apr 2013 Global Health Matters
• Realizing ICT's promise for global research, training
  Mar / Apr 2013 Global Health Matters
• GETHealth summit mulls widening technology use
  Mar / Apr 2013 Global Health Matters
• Mobile health technology spurs rapid advancements
  Jan / Feb 2013 Global Health Matters
• Mobile health researchers seek to improve emergency obstetric care in Bangladesh
  Jan / Feb 2013 Global Health Matters

Focus on Mobile Health
Jan / Feb 2012 Global Health Matters

• Mobile health research agenda continues to evolve
• Electronic protocols improve child health in Tanzania
• Managing diabetes with mobile health tools
• Mobile phones help to prevent HIV transmission in breast milk

More Global Health Matters newsletters on mobile health

• Mobile health innovations advance research
• Cell phones help Turkish smokers quit
• Dengue monitored with cell phones
• New handheld device transforms microscopy
• Related grantee news: Turning Smartphones Into Go-Anywhere Medical Devices at the University of California, Los Angeles [Video] from the Science Coalition YouTube channel, July 2012
• Text4baby educates new mothers
• Guest Opinion by Bill Gates: Approaching mhealth with humility
• Mobile communications technology revolutionizes global health programs
• High-tech innovation for low-resource settings
• Hopkins program taps Uganda’s tech resources
• Army employs text messages to treat wounded soldiers
• Experts predict future of mobile health
• Guest Opinion by Dr. Eric Goosby: PEPFAR committed to mobile health

• How to Fulfill the True Promise of mHealth
  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

Related News and Resources from Other Organizations

• Global mHealth Report 2015
  World Vision International
• Report: Patient Privacy in a Mobile World
  Thomson Reuters Foundation, released June 2013
• mHealth Alliance Releases Framework for Addressing Women's Empowerment in Mobile Health Projects
  mHealth Alliance News, May 3, 2013
• 2012 mHealth Summit conference abstracts
  Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine December 2012 special edition
• 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]
  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 comprehensive health application) - An application platform developed by the Johns Hopkins researchers to work with payers, providers and health departments to reduce costs and support patients with conditions such as tuberculosis, hepatitis C and opioid addiction.
• National Library of Medicine (NLM) Mobile Resources - A centralized collection of mobile-friendly websites and apps from NLM, including resources by device and category.
• Magpi (formerly EpiSurveyor) - A free mobile phone and Web-based data collection system for international development and global health. Users can design forms, download them to phones and start collecting data in minutes.
• 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.
• 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.
• mCARE - A pregnancy and neonatal health information system that connects rural health workers and facilities with pregnant women and their newborns in Bangladesh, developed through a partnership including the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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 Organization'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

• Apple ResearchKit - An open source framework to support medical research apps.
• 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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