The website next billion.net describes itself as a community of business leaders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, policy makers, and academics who want to explore the connection between development and enterprise. An article dated July 8, 2010 reports on the use of mobile devices for healthcare delivery in remote locations.
The article titled “Hand-held Doctors and Mobile Premium Payments: How Technology Can Improve Insurance for the Poor” includes the story of one village woman who supplemented the meager income of her household by making and selling bread in her village. One day she felt unwell, and had a suspicion that she had contracted malaria. Meeting the nearest doctor would have meant a two-hour bus ride and loss of a day’s earnings just for the trip, at the same time spending money for the bus ride.
It so happened that the woman’s village had a CARE facility and she had been enrolled by her CARE-trained neighbor into a health insurance program. CARE Foundation trains Village Health Champions (VHCs) to provide healthcare at the village doorstep. VHCs are trained to ask the right questions, record basic medical symptoms and vital statistics, and identify emergency symptoms.
The VHCs are also provided with a hand-held terminal that has a built-in clinical decision support system. With the knowledge-base thus available, the VHCs can even provide medical advice and order prescriptions. In the above case, the VHC contacted a remote CARE doctor who recommended treatment through an SMS prescription, which was dispensed from the VHC’s medical kit.
Read the story in more detail at next billion blog.
