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Posted on 06:13 PM, August 15, 2013

Medicine Cabinet -- Reiner Gloor

mHealth

THE PHILIPPINES, said to be the texting capital of the world, accounted for about 10% of global SMSexchanges among the countrys 92 million mobile subscribers.

A report on telecommunication in Southeast Asia published by the PwC in 2012 said that mobile subscription in the countrywould reach 117 million by 2016. The high mobile penetration rate is being complemented by the rise in smartphone salesaswell as the growing demand for broadband subscription among Filipinos.

Globally, mobile subscription has reached 90% of the worlds population with a projected 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions fora population of 7.1 billion by the end of 2013. By the year 2020, this technology would have a staggering 9.7 billionsubscribers.

Apart from keeping people connected, mobile phonesare now being utilized to expand their use for mobile health ormHealth. At the moment, mobile phones and other technological innovations are making great positive impact on diseaseprevention, diagnosis and control.

Building on the global reach and penetration of mobile phones, applications and services have been developed to help inhealth information, introduce behavioral changes, empower patients and offer strategies to better manage health conditions,train and support health care professionals, strengthen health systems and facilities, and provide access to services forpeople who are unable to engage officially with the health system.

The use of mHealth is an important part of health information, one of the six building blocks of a strong health system.Health information primarily focuses on the production, analysis, dissemination and use of reliable and timely informationon healthdeterminants, health systems performance and health status.

Recognizing the impact of mHealth, no less than theWorld HealthOrganization formed a consortium with the InternationalTelecommunication Union (ITU) and the global research pharmaceutical sector on the Be He@lthy, Be Mobile campaign.The innovative campaign uses mHealth to target non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases,cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.

Under the partnership, mobile solutions will be primarily SMS or applications-based and will include a range of services

such as mAwareness, mTraining, mBehavioural change, mSurveillance, mTreatment, mDisease management andmScreening.

In documenting current mHealth initiatives, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations(IFPMA) publishedHealth at your fingertipsto demonstrate public sectorinvolvement in achieving priority healthgoals.

The publication compiled around 37 mHealth efforts being undertaken not only to prevent and reduce NCDs, but also helpin attaining health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health andcombat HIV/AIDS and malaria among others.

At the moment, IFPMA said that the use of mHealth offers assistance to patients to help them prevent or manage diseases.In the area of prevention, mHealth is being utilized to assist persons to make better lifestyle choices by avoiding riskfactorssuch as tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol. Mobile services have also beenavailable to provide support in the diagnosis and documentation of cancer cases.

In disease management, other mHealth applications allow patients to register symptoms and send a report to his or her

doctor to discuss solutions. There are also efforts to help improve adherence to treatment through special medication andhealth care appointment reminders.

For children, parents receive SMS informing them about vaccines against common childhood diseases and the timing of visitwith their health workers.

MHealth is also being used in the fight against counterfeit medicines with the provision of a free SMS number that tellspeople the difference between a genuine and a fake medicine.

Here at home, the University of the Philippines and the Wireless Access Health (WAH) earlier introduced the CHITSElectronic Medical Record which is capable of generating reports on general patient consultations, consultation scheduling,

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maternal care services, child care, family planning, morbidity and notifiable diseases, tuberculosis, leprosy, and dentalhealth care.

With the province of Tarlac as pilot area, relevant patient information is sent to the Department of Health-Field HealthService Information System (FHSIS) using wireless technology.

The FHSIS database is important to support decision making for health, and for monitoring and evaluation of healthprograms and the health status of each community. Evidence-based research and policies could also only be generated with

the use reliable and timely health information. Instead of reinventing the wheel, local governments could consider the TarlacmHealth model to improve the monitoring of health status in communities.

In the coming years, mHealth is expected to play a major role in improving service delivery wherever the people may be. Theinitiative that takes advantage of innovation is certain to have a great impact on the overall health system and the health o findividuals particularly in settings where physical distance is a challenge like in many remote communities in the country.

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