Health in a Handset: How Mobile Technology is Good Medicine for the Asia-Pacific

The global popularity of mobile phones is being harnessed in the delivery of healthcare services (mHealth) to remote locations with scarce resources. In Bangladesh, mHealth is used for communicating with patients and doctors, delivering expert advice, collecting information in public health campaigns, even self-testing by patients. Pradeep Ray, a professor of information technology at the Australian School of Business, says Bangladesh is leading the world in providing mHealth-based services and that research he's leading into community acceptance there will benefit other developing countries. Meanwhile, in the developed world, mHealth can be a cost-effective tool in the allocation of stretched health budgets trying to cope with an ageing population and chronic conditions.