MHealth

Nurse using a mobile phone in Accra, Ghana

mHealth (also written as m-health or mhealth) is an abbreviation for mobile health, a term used for the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices.[1] The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wearable devices such as smart watches, for health services, information, and data collection.[2] The mHealth field has emerged as a sub-segment of eHealth, the use of information and communication technology (ICT), such as computers, mobile phones, communications satellite, patient monitors, etc., for health services and information.[3] mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery/sharing of healthcare information for practitioners, researchers and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, the direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine) as well as training and collaboration of health workers.[4][5]

In 2019, the global market for mHealth apps was estimated at US$17.92 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 45% predicted from 2020 to 2027.[6] While mHealth has application for industrialized nations, the field has emerged in recent years as largely an application for developing countries, stemming from the rapid rise of mobile phone penetration in low-income nations. The field, then, largely emerges as a means of providing greater access to larger segments of a population in developing countries, as well as improving the capacity of health systems in such countries to provide quality healthcare.[7] Within the mHealth space, projects operate with a variety of objectives, including increased access to healthcare and health-related information (particularly for hard-to-reach populations); improved ability to diagnose and track diseases; timelier, more actionable public health information; and expanded access to ongoing medical education and training for health workers.[3][8]

  1. ^ Adibi, Sasan, ed. (February 19, 2015). Mobile Health: A Technology Road Map. Springer Series in Bio-/Neuroinformatics. Vol. 5. Springer. p. 1. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12817-7. ISBN 978-3-319-12817-7.
  2. ^ Cipresso, P.; Serino S.; Villani D.; Repetto C.; Selitti L.; Albani G.; Mauro A.; Gaggioli A.; Riva G. (2012). "Is your phone so smart to affect your states? An exploratory study based on psychophysiological measures". Neurocomputing. 84: 23–30. doi:10.1016/j.neucom.2011.12.027.
  3. ^ a b Vital Wave Consulting (February 2009). mHealth for Development: The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World (PDF). United Nations Foundation, Vodafone Foundation. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-03.
  4. ^ Pimmer, Christoph; Tulenko, Kate (2016). "The convergence of mobile and social media: Affordances and constraints of mobile networked communication for health workers in low- and middle-income countries". Mobile Media & Communication. 4 (2): 252–269. doi:10.1177/2050157915622657. S2CID 167748382.
  5. ^ Germanakos P, Mourlas C, Samaras G. "A Mobile Agent Approach for Ubiquitous and Personalized eHealth Information Systems" (PDF). Proceedings of the Workshop on 'Personalization for e-Health' of the 10th International Conference on User Modeling (UM'05). Edinburgh, July 29, 2005. pp. 67–70.
  6. ^ Alhur, Mohammad Salem; Alshamari, Shaher; Oláh, Judit; Aldreabi, Hanadi (2022-01-01). "Unsupervised Machine Learning to Identify Positive and Negative Themes in Jordanian mHealth Apps". International Journal of E-Services and Mobile Applications. 14 (1): 1–21. doi:10.4018/IJESMA.313950. ISSN 1941-627X.
  7. ^ Adibi, Sasan, ed. (November 24, 2014). mHealth Multidisciplinary Verticals. CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group). p. 259. ISBN 978-1-482-21480-2.
  8. ^ Masson, M (December 2014). "Benefits of TED Talks". Canadian Family Physician. 60 (12): 1080. PMC 4264800. PMID 25500595.