mobile medicine

TC is offering a class in applications for learning with cell phones this summer. One audience they recommend for the class is those interested in mobile medicine. When I was in Uganda I noticed the absolute omnipresence of cells, even among the very poor. Clearly, this is something that has become an essential item for survival in our world. Maybe we can use its essentialist qualities to the advantage of health outcomes?

The Lancet Student Archive TLS Twitter! Meningitis Vaccines; Diagnostic Hotlines for Rural Medics: "In Ghana, the Millennium Villages Project is piloting a scheme to provide rural medics with advice on diagnosis and treatment through a mobile phone hotline. The scheme, which will be launched later this year, allows healthcare workers to consult specially-trained doctors to obtain advice and support about the cases they see in day-to-day practice, ending the isolation many rural medics have faced as a matter of course. Consultants believe that such hotlines have tremendous potential in reaching the two-thirds of mobile phone users living in developing counties, and hope to add new applications such as text-based prescriptions and remote monitoring for patients suffering from chronic complaints. Similar hotlines – though frequently targeted at patients, not professionals – are already a reality in Bangladesh, Mexico, India and Pakistan. Evidence suggests however that the cost of call charges still puts the service out of reach of the poorest areas."