Mobile Health is a recent term for medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, PDAs, and other wireless devices. mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery of healthcare information to practitioners, researchers, and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, and direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine).
Mobile eHealth or mHealth broadly encompasses the use of mobile telecommunication and multimedia technologies as they are integrated within increasingly mobile and wireless healthcare delivery systems and is part of a movement towards citizen-centred health service delivery. Mobile technologies by nature lend themselves to more decentralized health service delivery.
Ministries of Health in low and middle income countries and policy makers are eager to explore the use of mobile phones and other ICT to promote health, but the lack of a comprehensive model, knowledge base, and published data on the health benefits poses significant barriers.
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