Three leading foundations – the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Foundation and The Vodafone Foundation – have formed a new organisation, the Mobile Health (mHealth) Alliance, to look at ways of maximising the impact of mobile phones on health, particularly in developing countries.
According to Terry Kramer, a trustee of the Vodafone Foundation, ‘there are 2.2 billion mobile phones in the developing world, 305 million computers but only 11 million hospital beds [so] you can instantly see how mobiles can create effective solutions to address healthcare challenges’.
A new report, commissioned by the Vodafone Foundation and UN Foundation Partnership, mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World (click here >>), was launched to coincide with the formation of the new alliance. The report ‘helps the reader to understand mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heath care initiatives’.
Sources: mHealth Alliance press release, 17 February 2009 (click here >>) and UN Foundation website.