E-Health: For those hard to reach places

             What did you do with that old brick phone you used to carry? The one that was only good for making calls or returning texts; before the iPhones and Androids entered our lives? If you’re like most people it’s probably sitting in a drawer somewhere or maybe it ended up at the local dump. Well it turns out that those “ancient” pieces of technology have more use than one would think and are even saving lives all over the world. The innovation of mobile health technology has been growing over the past couple decades and has made huge advances since its early days. The idea started as simple as websites for gaining information and has evolved into such innovations as video call centers where patients in rural areas can get expert advice via webcam from doctors and nurses across the world.

            In the effort to improve health globally, one of the staggering challenges is the lack of health care workers, let alone ones that are experienced. InSTEDD and IntraHealth International are examples of organizations that are making a huge impact on reaching patients in remote areas of the world. An example of one of the many technologies they are using to aid global health is called Verboice. This is a system where patients and health care workers can leave voicemail messages and get ones in return to answer questions and give medical advice. It even has a function to answer questions by pressing the numbers 1, 2, or 3 on the keypad to help with language and dialect barriers. There are instructions over the phone that tells the patient to choose a number associated with an option that closely describes their symptoms. IntraHealth is involved with another type of aid that allows for quick and constant training of healthcare workers in remote areas that previously had no healthcare experience. It might be hard to get experienced workers to go to rural areas to help a community, but if people in the community get basic training and help they, themselves, can help the people around them. India has examples of communities where this idea is working. In this scenario there are community health workers with little experience but who are diligent and caring. These workers are called accredited social health activists (or ASHAs), the ASHAs get a mobile device that is “an interactive tutorial that offers 153 key health messages on prenatal and delivery care, postpartum mother and newborn care, immunization, postpartum family planning, and nutrition using a combination of text messages, audio, and illustrations all contextualized with localized illustrations and dialects.” (IntraHealth 2012)

image credit: UNICEF Frog Design Project Mwana, 2011

           Getting these ASHAs or Community Health Workers (CHWs) that can use this technology into more communities around the world would be a huge step eliminating some of the devastating health issues much of the world is facing. Many people who would be likely to become a CHW in their town are held back by their lack of knowledge and experience, but if they could utilizes e-health technology it would give them the confidence to help the people around them. So maybe you will think again before you hide your old flip phone in a drawer somewhere or throw it in the trash.