The Journal of mHealth Vol 2 Issue 4 (August) | Page 39

mHealth in Developing Countries

Exhibit 1: Healthcare Workers Shortage

(image source: Akter, S., Ray, P., “mHealth – an Ultimate Platform to Serve the Unserved.” IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics (2010). Print.)

are still relentless threats to health in developing countries. At
the same time, the prevalence of noncommunicable disease
such as Diabetes and Cancer, normally concentrated in developed regions, are on the rise in developing regions. A lack of
health information, a lack of access to healthcare, and a shortage of health workers are allowing these diseases to claim lives
around the world.

find healthcare innovations that are solving problems in countries that have far less access to healthcare than we do.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the prospect of mHealth
in developing nations, and to encourage healthcare innovators
in developed nations such as the U.S. to use mHealth innovations in these regions as benchmarks for low-cost, accessible,
available, and affordable solutions to the global healthcare problem. I will begin by defining mHealth as a subset of eHealth,
with what I believe to be a more up-to-date definition based
on examples drawn from mobile technologies as of 2015. This
will be followed by a review of existing literature, highlighting
examples of mHealth being used in various developing nations.
Finally, this paper will discuss the concept of “reverse innovation” and discuss challenges (and opportunities) in scaling
healthcare innovations to solve global health issues.

The developing world suffers from a significant lack of access
to healthcare and basic health services. The problem worsens
when healthcare is needed but is either severely delayed or is
not sought out at all and a population’s health worsens. Not
only does this have a negative health outcome, but it also leads
to increased costs and lost income. This is referred to as the
“poverty trap,” where poverty leads to poor health, yet poor
health maintains poverty.5 Access to healthcare is not the only
problem. Geographic and financial availability, as well as the
availability of health-related resources are also scarce in lowto middle-income nations. The shortage of health services and
healthcare workers has become a challenge. Low income countries have on average 9 hospital beds per 10,000 people, half a
doctor per thousand people, and less than one nurse per thousand people. These figures are 4-6 times less than health services
availability in upper-middle- to high-income countries (Exhibit
1). Even when healthcare is accessible, it is often of low quality
and is not tailored to individual patient needs.

The Global Healthcare Crisis

eHealth & mHealth

In 2013, The Commonwealth Fund conducted a survey dealing
with healthcare in 11 developed nations and found that the U.S.
significantly lagged behind the ten other advanced countries
when it came to the cost of healthcare, access to healthcare,
health insurance, and overall affordability.3 The survey found
that in 2013, 37% of American adults did not receive proper
care because of cost. This number is extraordinarily high compared to the U.K. and Sweden (4-6%). Almost a quarter of
Americans had trouble paying or could not pay their medical
bills. The next highest country, France, only saw this in fewer
than 16% of their population. The United States spends around
$8,508 per person on health