The two-year programme involved the use of a Java-enabled handset application that health workers used to instantly transfer data to computers. The data was then collated and analysed.
The use of mobile phones and computers has been instrumental in keeping track of health data and identifying disease patterns. The system has helped in anticipating viral outbreaks in regions that were under surveillance.
If used effectively, this can help in taking comprehensive healthcare services to rural India and reaching out to the country's underprivileged. If the governments concerned are serious in improving our ailing rural health centers, using technology to generate and monitor data should be one of the first things they must be looking at.
The need of the hour is better involvement of private institutions and individuals to ensure a larger mass base is brought under the radar.
Read more here: http://www.livemint.com/2010/09/02211944/Cellphonebased-technology-to.html?atype=tp
The use of mobile phones and computers has been instrumental in keeping track of health data and identifying disease patterns. The system has helped in anticipating viral outbreaks in regions that were under surveillance.
If used effectively, this can help in taking comprehensive healthcare services to rural India and reaching out to the country's underprivileged. If the governments concerned are serious in improving our ailing rural health centers, using technology to generate and monitor data should be one of the first things they must be looking at.
The need of the hour is better involvement of private institutions and individuals to ensure a larger mass base is brought under the radar.
Read more here: http://www.livemint.com/2010/09/02211944/Cellphonebased-technology-to.html?atype=tp
