The promise and peril of mHealth in developing countries
Open accessAbstract
The mHealth field understandably arose from a base of practice, developed a nascent, yet ever-expanding, body of inter-disciplinary scholarship, and currently hopes for recognition by, and establishment on, national and trans-national policy bodies and agendas respectively. However, to justify public investment, policymakers require a body of theoretically sound, methodologically rigorous, and generalizable, evidence on how mobile technologies can effectively improve basic healthcare service delivery for hard-to-reach, resource-poor populations in developing countries. This essay draws upon prior work, ranging from a review article, an mHealth intervention for Indonesian healthcare workers within the medical infrastructure, to a text-messaging project in Uganda focused on beneficiaries. The argument is organized around theoretical, methodological, and sustainability issues, and proposes suggestions for how the discipline of mobile communication studies can add value to the field of mHealth research in developing countries.
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mHealth has proven acceptable or effective in other, similar areas, or in feasibility studies.
“(4) mHealth has proven acceptable or effective in other, similar areas, or in feasibility studies [2-8].”
From Development of a Culturally Tailored Text Message Maternal Health Program: TextMATCH (2017) · cites this paper as [7]
Traditional health promotion methods often fail to serve the group in question.
“(1) traditional health promotion methods often fail to serve the group in question”
From Development of a Culturally Tailored Text Message Maternal Health Program: TextMATCH (2017) · cites this paper as [7]
Mobile phone use or use of specific capabilities like text messaging or voice calling are common within the group targeted.
“(3) mobile phone use or use of specific capabilities like text messaging or voice calling are common within the group targeted”
From Development of a Culturally Tailored Text Message Maternal Health Program: TextMATCH (2017) · cites this paper as [7]
The low cost of mHealth interventions makes mHealth interventions feasible in low-resource environments.
“(2) the low cost of mHealth interventions make mHealth interventions feasible in low-resource environments”
From Development of a Culturally Tailored Text Message Maternal Health Program: TextMATCH (2017) · cites this paper as [7]
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- Authors
- Chib, A.
- Affiliations
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Corresponding author
- Chib, Arul
- ORCID
- Chib, Arul
- Venue
- Mobile Media & Communication
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 69-75
- ISSN
- 2050-1579 (ISSN-L)
- 2050-1587
- OpenAlex
- W2149222679
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 19.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Mobile Media & Communication (publishedVersion)
- DR-NTU (Nanyang Technological University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › ICT in Developing Communities
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Health, Technology, Consumer Behavior
- Keywords
- mobile health, developing countries, health care delivery, mobile technology, evidence-based policy, hard-to-reach populations, text messaging, research sustainability, health professions education, public investment in health
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