LIFE> Health
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LIFE> Health
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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-25 09:50
 Not content with offering calls, texts and Internet access, the mobile phone industry is convinced it can help save lives and offer health services to millions worldwide. The idea of a phone serving as a "doctor in your pocket" has gained traction at the industry's biggest trade show, the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona. Among a slew of possible applications in poor countries, insiders stressed the potential for the mobile phone to remind people to get vaccinations, take medicine, or undergo HIV tests. Doctors and nurses working far from hospitals or clinics can also use mobile connections to relay information on local patients or report disease outbreaks. "When you consider that there are 2.2 billion mobile phones in the developing world, 305 million computers but only 11 million hospital beds you can instantly see how mobiles can create effective solutions to address healthcare challenges," says Terry Kramer, strategy director at British operator Vodafone. The Rockefeller Foundation, the UN Foundation and The Vodafone Foundation announced the Mobile Health (mHealth) Alliance last week, a partnership to advance the use of mobile technology in healthcare. |
