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Mobile may help heal Africa
10 Jun 2011
With the world's highest rates of HIV and TB, health care provision has to be at the top of most African countries' agendas - and innovative use of mobile technologies may be just the salve they are looking for.
Misha Kay, who examines cellphone technology for the World Health Organisation (WHO), recently told the Mobile Health Summit in Cape Town that there was a "fairly healthy groundswell of activity" in mobile-health initiatives.
There are more than 5-billion mobile phone subscribers in the world, and 85% of the planet covered by a commercial wireless signal. In a recent global survey, the WHO found that only 19 of 114 countries had no mobile health initiatives. In fact, Kay said, most countries were running several projects aimed at supporting health care provision.
Kay reportedly told the conference that while south-east Asia, the Americas and Europe had the most initiatives, around 75 of the surveyed African countries were also making use of this technology. The survey was based on a 2009, report "The opportunity of mobile technology for healthcare in the developing world".
Read the full article on www.memeburn.com.
Source: Memeburn
Launched in April 2010 by Matthew Buckland, Memeburn is a news and opinion platform tracking tech culture, innovation and business. It plays particular attention to the web, mobile, social media, online media and social networking fields. Key opinion-leaders contribute to Memeburn, providing their insights on the online industry. Subscribe via email or RSS for regular updates. Follow memeburn on Twitter at @memeburn.
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About Mvelase Peppetta
Mvelase Peppetta, a graduate of the University of Cape Town, holds a degree in Social Sciences majoring in Politics and History. He currently works at Irvine Bartlett whilst continuing to write on a freelance basis. He was formerly a staff reporter for www.Memeburn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mvelasep.
