mobile health (mHealth) platform – paper review (initial thoughts)

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article updated – 12:13pm, NST – January 2, 2013. Read below.

A good friend recently referred me to this paper. Loved the idea of it, even though haven’t been able to read the full paper. Searched through Hinari repository but could not find. The paper is by Atanu Garai, on mobile health (management) project designing and gives seven factors that could boost productivity. Its published by The XRDS magazine of the Association for Computing Machinery

  1. Factor 1: mHealth is not mass media. Many organizations are still disseminating SMS or calls in the way that television and radio broadcast their content…
  2. Factor 2: Deliver multiple services through mHealth. Many health managers think of mHealth as yet another tool for data collection and communication about health behavior…
  3. Factor 3: Evolve business models for curative and preventive health. Program managers are increasingly looking for ways to ensure financial sustainability, both in profit-making and not-for-profit projects…
  4. Factor 4: Consider mobile data collection as the means to an end. Until now, most mHealth projects have focused on data collection…
  5. Factor 5: Partial automation deters mHealth adoption in health system. Donors ask for mHealth projects that work in a health issue of their choice…
  6. Factor 6: mHealth is integrative. mHealth technologies have the capacity to integrate otherwise disparate functions or processes within the traditional health system…
  7. Factor 7: mHealth is multidisciplinary. Since mHealth integrates various domains within the health sector, it is multidisciplinary by nature…”

I think Nyaya Health is doing some projects related to mHealth, and Patan Academy also in it (small scale). E-health adopted is already being adopted by many health institution in Nepal, but it is in quite small scale. I would love to read the whole paper, and have mailed the author too. For now, do go through the seven factors, which are very interesting, I do not agree completely on two of the seven, but its very well thought of.

P.S. – will write the full review, as soon after I read the whole paper. Next post – Jan 4, 7:30am, NST

update (of January 2 – 12:13pm NST)
Did received the original text from the author. Am reading it, will post about it mixed with my thoughts in few days time.

Citation – Atanu Garai. 2012. Seven factors for designing successful mHealth projects. XRDS 19, 2 (December 2012), 16-19. DOI=10.1145/2382856.2382865 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2382856.2382865

for more – Seven factors for designing successful mHealth projects

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Published by prashant

adhere and assimilate. pursuing public health.