In India, heart disease has overtaken communicable diseases as the primary killer, but the poor still have limited access to the specialist health care that can save their lives. Until now, that is.
Devi Shetty‘s company, Narayana Hrudayalaya, has created a new program to build low-cost hospitals that can provide health care to the poor. Rosalind Miller reports in the Guardian‘s Global Development column:
According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the number one cause of death worldwide. Of these deaths, 82% take place in low- and middle-income countries. Given their computing power and pervasiveness, is it possible for mobile phones to aid in delivery of quality health care, particularly to rural populations distant from physicians with the expertise needed to diagnose CVD?
Advances in mobile phone technology have resulted in global availability of portable computing devices capable of performing many of the functions traditionally requiring desktop and larger computers. In addition to their technological features, mobile phones have a large cultural impact. They are user-friendly and are among the most efficient and most widely used means of communication. Currently there is about one cell phone for every two humans in the world.