ICT Update, Issue 48 : Healthcare

ICT Update is a bimonthly web magazine
(http://ictupdate.cta.int) with an
accompanying printed bulletin and an email newsletter. It is published by
the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) ACP-EU,
P.O. Box 380, 6700 AJ Wageningen, the Netherlands.

INTRODUCTION TO THIS ISSUE

Over the last few decades, the spread of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis, along
with the continued threats from measles, polio and malaria, have cost the
lives of millions of people and affected countless families in ACP
nations. The loss of labour potential and, in particular, the reduction
of manpower in the agricultural sector, threatens food security and can
severely limit a country´s growth. But health projects throughout the
world are using now a wide range of ICTs to connect rural communities to
the expertise often only found in big cities.
Read more:

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/regulars/editorial/(issue)/48

PERSPECTIVES

´Many developing countries, faced with a drastic shortage of trained
medical personnel, increasingly rely on community health workers to
provide at least a basic level of care to people living in rural areas.
The ubiquity of the mobile phone, however, presents an ideal opportunity
to support healthcare professionals and improve the situation for
patients.´ Claire Thwaites, head of the United Nations
Foundation/Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/regulars/perspectives/(issue)/48

ARTICLES

Using locally developed software, doctors in three rural hospitals in
Mali can send x-rays via the internet for expert diagnosis and treatment
recommendations. The success of this teleradiology project has led to
further e-health initiatives in the country.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/Feature-Articles/Extending-x-ray-vision

A locally developed touchscreen computer system helps to guide staff in
rural health centres in Malawi through diagnosis and treatment
procedures.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/feature-articles/A-touch-of-good-health

Specially developed open source software enables a South African project
to send millions of targeted health messages to mobile phones users
across the country.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/feature-articles/Delivering-an-extra-message

A device which connects a mobile phone to a microscope lets rural lab
workers in Uganda send photos of microscopic samples for expert analysis
and diagnosis.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/feature-articles/Connecting-technology-and-experts

TeleMedMail is an open source software developed to simplify the process
of sending patient details, including photos, from a hospital or health
centre to a specialist for diagnosis or second opinion.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/regulars/techtip/(issue)/48

Q&A

´E-health can benefit rural communities in so many ways. It is only when
you are healthy that you can sustain work on the land to provide food and
fetch safe drinking water.´ Dr Joseph Adebola, president of the Society
for Telemedicine and e-Health in Nigeria.

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/regulars/Q-A/(issue)/48

Connect with other readers, share ideas or suggest topics, stories and
themes in the new ICT Update group on
LinkedIn
or

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DOCUMENTS

United Nations Foundation mHealth for Development
There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the potential
of mobile communications to radically improve healthcare services�-even in
some of the most remote and resource-poor environments. This report
examines issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of
mobile phones and healthcare. It helps the reader to understand mHealth´s
scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to
which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise
the greatest impact on heath care initiatives. It also examines building
blocks required to make mHealth more widely available through sustainable
implementations.

www.unfoundation.org/global-issues/technology/mhealth-report.html

mHealth: A Developing Country Perspective
This 9-page document describes mHealth as one of the major challenges
being faced by both medical practice and health care policies. The
document cites examples of the implications of the development of
mHealth, such as the need to examine the financing of mobile medical
services and the challenge of clarifying the boundaries between physician
services and so-called "do-it-yourself" medicine.

http://www.ehealth-connection.org/files/conf-materials/mHealth_%20A%20Developing%20Country%20Perspective_0.pdf

The emerging Web 2.0 social software in healthcare
Web 2.0 sociable technologies and social software are presented as
enablers in health and health care, for organizations, clinicians,
patients and laypersons. They include social networking services,
collaborative filtering, social bookmarking, folksonomies, social search
engines, file sharing and tagging, mashups, instant messaging, and online
multi-player games.

http://www.webdialogues.net/cs/cdc-new_media-library/...

mHealth for Development Brochure
This 7-page brochure from the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone
Foundation Technology Partnership outlines the opportunity presented by
the growing field of mobile health (m-health). It provides analysis of
the role and impact of mobile communications in health delivery in the
developing world, highlighting ways in which mobile technology is making
it possible for workers in low-resource environments to address urgent
public health issues. (pdf)

http://www.vodafone.com/etc/medialib/foundation_imagery/mhealth_brochure.Par.47902.File.tmp/unf_mhealth_for_development_brochure.pdf

WEB RESOURCES

This issue�'s list of annotated web resources includes:

iPath Open Source Medical Collaboration Platform
iPath is an open source platform for telemedicine applications such
as consultations, case discussions, virtual staff meetings, etc. It was
originally developed at University of Basel where a public iPath server
for projects with developing countries is hosted.
ipath.sourceforge.net/

Google.org´s Predict and Prevent
While everyone faces increasing risk from emerging infectious
diseases, the world´s poor who have minimal or no access to health care
and may live with and depend on animals for their livelihood are
exceptionally vulnerable and stand to suffer the most. Today, emerging
diseases are generally detected once they are already entrenched in the
human population, and response systems are often slow and uneven. This
initiative supports the move from a reactive to a proactive response to
emerging threats.
www.google.org/predict.html

Telemedicine and e-Health news alert
Telemedicine and e-Health News Alert delivers the latest updates on
new technology, clinical applications, collaborations and partnerships,
and news from the public and private sectors. These news alerts are
delivered every Tuesday and Friday morning.
www.telemedicinealerts.com

HealthMap, a global disease alert map
HealthMap brings together disparate data sources for a comprehensive
view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect
on human and animal health. This freely available web site integrates
outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as
Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated
official alerts (such as World Health Organization).
www.healthmap.org/en

PROJECTS

Health Early Warning System
The Health Early Warning System (HEWS) was developed by the European
Space Agency specifically to aid emergency health responses in
sub-Saharan Africa. The HEWS system can be adapted so that organizations
and health workers can add information, customize data input, implement
early warning alert systems and respond to health situations by
automatically distributing alert and information and can be developed to
guarantee all required security levels of information.
www.hews-project.com

Mobiles in Malawi
In Malawi, one hospital, St Gabriel´s, has turned to texting in a
pioneering project which allows it to communicate by SMS with hundreds of
volunteer health workers serving some 250,000 people within a 100-mile
(160 km) radius. The volunteers have been given cell phones loaded with
prepaid airtime credit. If there´s no electricity they can be charged
using portable solar panels. Volunteers administering drugs in the field
can check dosages and request help if a patient is in trouble.

mobilesinmalawi.blogspot.com

International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH)
The International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth promotes and
supports telemedicine and eHealth initiatives around the world. The
society organizes conferences and workshops and spreads information on
telemedicine through networks of professionals and related organizations.
The website has a wide range of useful resources including a list of
members, conference events and links to journals and other telemedicine
resources.
www.isft.net

Bloody Small Microscope on a Phone
A group of bioengineers at UC Berkeley has developed a simple
instrument that could allow patients with chronic blood conditions, to
easily and inexpensively monitor their blood from home. The device fuses
two straightforward technologies�-a camera-equipped cell phone and a basic
optical microscope�-into one powerful tool: a portable microscope that can
send annotated images of blood cells to labs or medical centers for
analysis.

www.citris-uc.org/publications/articles/bloody_small_microscope_phone

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ICT Update, Issue 48 : Healthcare

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