‘Mobile’ Health Needs And Opportunities In Developing Countries
Abstract
Developing countries face steady growth in the prevalence of chronic diseases, along with a continued burden from communicable diseases. "Mobile" health, or m-health-the use of mobile technologies such as cellular phones to support public health and clinical care-offers promise in responding to both types of disease burdens. Mobile technologies are widely available and can play an important role in health care at the regional, community, and individual levels. We examine various m-health applications and define the risks and benefits of each. We find positive examples but little solid evaluation of clinical or economic performance, which highlights the need for such evaluation.
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mHealth interventions in sub-Saharan Africa and low- and middle-income countries are raising high expectations among development agencies, policymakers and researchers.
“mHealth interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, and in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in general, are raising high expectations among development agencies, policymakers and researchers [16–18].”
From Situating mobile health: a qualitative study of mHealth expectations in the rural health district of Nouna, Burkina Faso (2017) · cites this paper as [18]
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- Authors
- Kahn, J. G., Yang, J. S., & Kahn, J. S.
- Affiliations
- James G. Kahn ( ) is a professor of health policy and epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco.
- California State University, Fullerton (US)
- James S. Kahn is a professor in the Positive Health Program at the University of California, San Francisco.
- ORCID
- Yang, Joshua S.
- Venue
- Health Affairs
- Publisher
- Health Affairs Publishing, LLC
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 252-258
- ISSN
- 0278-2715 (ISSN-L)
- 1544-5208
- OpenAlex
- W2147822506
- Cited by
- 408
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 34.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Health Affairs (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024131, 5K24RR24369-7, K24RR024369)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › ICT in Developing Communities
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Mobile Learning in Education
- Keywords
- mobile health, mobile technology, mobile devices, chronic disease, infectious diseases, clinical care, health care delivery, developing countries, benefits and risks
- MeSH terms
- Chronic Disease, Communicable Disease Control, Developing Countries, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Telemedicine, Cost of Illness, Cell Phone
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