Cambridge researchers in collaboration with China Mobile are examining the potential of mobile phones to deliver healthcare in China and worldwide.
Cambridge researchers in collaboration with China Mobile are examining the potential of mobile phones to deliver healthcare in China and worldwide.
The global reach of mobiles is staggering... it’s clear that there are enormous potential for healthcare, in both urban and rural populations.’
Professor Ian Leslie
The use of mobile communications for healthcare delivery and health promotion – so-called ‘mHealth’ – is already proving valuable both in the developed world and in developing countries, where clinics and health workers may be scarce. In Africa and India, for example, mobiles are being used for remote diagnosis and to track epidemics. But perhaps the greatest opportunities – and also maybe the least well understood – are in China.
Understanding the costs and benefits of mHealth in China – and beyond this, the global potential of new applications – is the aim of a project sponsored by China Mobile, which has the world’s largest telecoms network and 10% of the world’s subscribers. Experts from many relevant disciplines (including the Computer Laboratory, Judge Business School, Department of Engineering, School of Clinical Medicine and Centre for Science and Policy) will come together to forecast how mobile communications can contribute to global sustainable development in healthcare.
The study leader is Professor Ian Leslie from the Computer Laboratory. ‘The global reach of mobiles is staggering,’ says Professor Leslie. ‘Current estimates are that even in remote areas, 50% of people will have mobile phones by 2012. Factor in the opportunities for all kinds of sensors and tracking devices to communicate cheaply via the mobile network, and it’s clear that there are enormous potential for healthcare, in both urban and rural populations.’
‘This short project,’ he added, ‘is necessarily a scoping exercise that will highlight current practice, but more importantly canvass researchers across a range of disciplines about what new applications and sensor technologies might be brought to bear, and their implications for mobile operators and policy makers.’ The team will analyse original field studies of actual deployments in China, as well as examine the societal benefits and economic value of mHealth and explore innovative ways of delivery. The final report is scheduled for early 2011.
For more information, please contact Dr Nick Gray (ng338@cam.ac.uk).
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