This last weekend I had my phone and wallet stolen. As a result I had to survive the better part of the weekend without being able to access the money in my account or being able to call anyone for assistance if I had needed it. I was bewildered at how irritatingly inconvenient even the simplest tasks became. It was as if the modern world did not take kindly to those who fell behind the curve of technology or access to resources, an assumption I later found holds true for mobile applications in healthcare and less true for me, as I replaced my missing items but see it fit to complain nonetheless.
I have posted a few articles about how amazing mobile technology is in healthcare. As a proud self-confessed computer geek I'm usually all about focusing on the cutting edge of any new technology, especially when it belongs to an untouched market such as healthcare. However, my recent mandatory two day mobile technology vacation made me think about how accessibility to mHealth applications could be extended to those people not fortunate enough to afford the newest gadgets. Luckily I'm not the only one who has thought about this.
In a blog post on Health Unbound I found a good set of criteria for mHealth applications targeted towards under-served impoverished, or remote communities. A call for the apps to work on even the most basic handsets and be illiterate-friendly resonated strongly with me as areas in which these apps could definitely improve for those less fortunate.
As much as I love my new Android phone, and the potential it has to operate some of the most sophisticated mHealth apps on the market, I feel that the focus of the market needs to expand to avoid ignoring those with the least.
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