Institute For The Future

Systematically Underestimating the Disruptive Potential of Mobile Health in the Developing World

Most of the Rockefeller papers on mhealth assume that the health care system in developing countries will remain relatively stable, just with new channels for disseminating public health information. The experts seem to under-estimate the potential for highly disruptive new models of health management, health information sharing and health care service delivery that overlay on top of mobile commerce and communications infrastructures. The question really is, what does a micro-enterprise version of developing world health care look like? That is, one that operates outside of established networks, authorities and infrastructures.

 

"The impact of mHealth is likely to be more far-reaching than other developments such as nanomedicine and genetic therapy, as it will create an urgent need to review the way health

care is financed and blur the boundaries between professional medical help and so-called "do-it-

yourself" medicine (i.e. minor treatment or self-medication without consulting a physician, but

based on previous medical treatment experience, popular medical literature, or a pharmacist's

advice)."

 

One possibility - imagine a social network for field doctors/nurses/clinincians to share information among themselves outside established medical forums and institutions (like what the army is doing in Iraq)