Emerging mobile platforms and the rapid progress in medical technologies are poised to trigger more accessible health services in the decade to come.
Mobile Health (or m-health) is the cover-all term for the use of mobile devices in the healthcare arena. The key benefit of mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) or mobile phones is in the way it enable communication and the delivery of medical information between practitioners and patients.
Mobile health may be of particular benefit in the developed world where hand-held devices and other mobile communications systems are in everyday use but the same is becoming increasingly true for developing countries where mobile phone use is rising. Experts warn that scaleability is the key to success - just because something works on a small, specific scale does not mean it will work elsewhere.
Mobile health can enable policymakers, medical practitioners and facility operators to contact large numbers of people with a high degree of accuracy, ensuring that specific health information about diagnosis or treatment can be communicated to those who need it.
Health issues are complex. They involve multiple stakeholders, span across governments and private sector and impact multiple industries. They require significant investments in infrastructure, human resources and technology. Furthermore, they are challenging to understand for non-health specialists and are often hard to communicate simply and effectively to the general public.
The World Economic Forum addresses health in a comprehensive and holistic way, developing innovative ideas and fostering dialogue through its unique convening power platforms such as its Annual Meetings, regional events and Global Agenda Councils. The Forum engages the broad global community and focuses in particular on the private sector - beginning from strategic and industry partners and expanding into the broader business community. Businesses from all industries - from healthcare to food and beverage, from IT and communications to energy or mining, bring a valuable contribution to addressing health issues. The Forum also publishes forward-looking scenarios and risk assessments that aim to stimulate discussions and decisions on the future of health.
Click here for the full proceedings of the mHealth Summit at the World Economic Forum.
The World Economic Forum's mHealth Summit, held in San Diego, California, USA on 28 June 2010 was aimed at strengthening the use of mobile communications to deliver health services and empower people to take control of their own health. Hosted by the Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications, the Summit drew together around 80 business and civil society leaders as well as experts to share perspectives and build consensus on key principles for achieving global scale of mHealth products and services.
Questions addressed included:
- What are the key relationships between the economics, technologies, policies and individuals?
- What are the incentives for greater system-wide integration and interoperability of health information systems?
- What are the opportunities and obstacles which can strengthen the scaling of mHealth solutions in future?
With nearly 5 billion mobile phones in use around the world today, there is an unprecedented opportunity to transform industries and improve lives. Mobility solutions (mHealth) empower users to take control of their health, improve and extend the reach of existing health services and more effectively share a growing base evidence to demonstrate efficacy.
The Forum's Global Agenda Council on Mobile Communications is a multistakeholder group of 15-20 leaders focused on capturing the best knowledge on key topics around mobile communications, particularly where the mobile platform can accelerate positive social and economic value creation. It serves as an advisory board to the Forum's industry focused work.
The Council calls for strengthened global coordination amongst stakeholders to provide investment, interoperability, innovation, and social inclusion; a plan to incentivize government funding to mitigate long term risks; connections between critical auxiliary infrastructure, supply chains, community information systems and existing health facilities; and support of an open ecosystem.
"The Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications brings together a variety of leaders from industry, academia and civil society. The collective aim is to examine the key enablers for mobile communications platform to accelerate positive social and economic value creation. With nearly 5 billion mobile phones in use, there is an unprecedented opportunity to leverage humanity’s most pervasive global platform to transform the health care sector and empower people to take charge of their own health. By helping to shape future policy and encourage innovation in this critical area, we can make a real contribution to human health, all over the world,” said Paul Jacobs, CEO and Chairman of Qualcomm, and Chair, World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
More content from the mHealth Summit 2010
Opening remarks at the mHealth meeting of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications held in La Jolla, California on 28 June 2010. Speakers are Kevin Steinberg, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Centre for Global Industries, World Economic Forum USA, and Paul E. Jacobs, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm, USA.
Interview with Paul Jacobs, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm, USA at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Kevin Steinberg, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Centre for Global Industries, World Economic Forum USA at the mHealth summit of the Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Harry Greenspun, Chief Medical Officer, Dell Services, Dell, USA at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Michael Hedges Vice-President and Chief Information Officer, Medtronic, USA at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Paul Meyer, Co-Founder, Chairman and President, Voxiva, USA at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications
Interview with George Poste, Chief Scientist and Regents' Professor and Del E. Webb Chair in Health Innovation, Arizona State University, USA at the mHealth summit of the Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Bright Simons, President, MPedigree, Ghana at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Jan Malek, Director and Global Co-Leader, Cisco, USA at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Thierry Zylberberg, Executive Vice-President, Health Line of Business, Orange, France at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Alexander Pentland, Toshiba Professor of Media, Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
Interview with Raja Rajamannar, Chief Executive, International, Humana, USA, at the mHealth summit of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Future of Mobile Communications.
For additional information on mHealth, please email mHealth@weforum.org
