Mobile applications are promising tools for strengthening service quality and have been an area of considerable mHealth innovation. Despite growing demand for data to guide policymakers, donors, and program managers in making sound investments, there is a paucity of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of mHealth technologies. To address this gap, the HFG Project analyzed a mobile decision support tool with the following objectives: First, it aimed to provide a transparent and detailed methodology for categorizing the costs of building, deploying, and scaling-up mobile decision support tools in Malawi. Second, it evaluated the incremental cost-effectiveness of a mobile tool’s use in improving clinical care. Finally, the evaluation addressed challenges faced in conducting cost-effectiveness analyses of mHealth interventions when they are scaled up and become multifunctional.
Amakomaya [Mother’s Love]: mHealth project (Nepal, 2011 onwards)
Amakomaya, translated as Mother’s Love in Nepali, was initiated by a dedicated team of local ICT experts and health professionals when they received a USD4,000 grant from the Internet Society in 2011. Committed to tackle the challenges that Nepali women face during pregnancy and childbirth; and equipped with the skills to leverage opportunities, including those that the Internet and mobile communications offer, the team is making a series of breakthroughs, particularly in women’s health education, changing community practices that marginalize women, and the digitization
of health records.
The full details of the case study can be found in the following pdf: CaseStudy-Amakomaya_Nepal
(Source: Christine Apikul)
Mobile for Development: Transforming Global Healthcare Through Mobile Technology (AIDF report 2015)
With the ascent of mobile technology and increased connectivity across the globe, the digital divide is slowly closing. As technological changes and solution-based innovations forge ahead in the next few years, the mobile landscape will be transformed. In the current climate, concerns are focused on unsustainable consumer businesses around mHealth and a highly regulated healthcare market that may restrict the use of mobile devices for healthcare purposes.
This Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) Mobile for Development report attempts to address these challenges, together with recommendations and next steps to take the mHealth into the next innovation stage. This first report highlights the global scale of mHealth adoption, latest trends, economic impact and the increasing preference for remote monitoring with patients.