THE Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) is set to launch its Mobile for Development mHealth programme for pregnant women and children in Zambia in September this year with a focus on nutrition.
Mhealth programme is an inter-industry partnership to connect mobile
and health industries to reach millions of pregnant women and children
in sub-Saharan Africa.
The mHealth initiative is an application on mobile phones that enables women to access health information.
GSMA is an association of mobile operators and related companies devoted to supporting the standardizing, deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile telephone system.
According to a press statement, Director of health at the GSMA, Dr Craig Friderichs, said through its ‘Mobile for Development mHealth’ programme, the mHealth initiative will be launched in 10 African countries by the end of this year.
Dr Friderichs said the context of the partnership is centred around the millennium development goals (MDGs) particularly those with a specific focus on maternal and unborn child health.
Phase one of the GSMA initiative will be rolled out before the end of the year in six priority countries namely Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
Phase two is expected to commence in 2015, and will incorporate additional partners and services, addressing other countries including Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
“We believe that mobile and information and communications technologies (ICT) as a sector has a fundamental role to play in addressing health services,” Dr Friderichs said.
With electronics company Samsung also onboard, Thabiet Allie, head of content and services for the African Regional Headquarters at Samsung Electronics said the company has identified levels of engagement with the partnership.
Samsung plans to offer better pricing for devices, and secondly pre-embed a ‘smart health app’ on all smartphones across sub-Saharan Africa. The app will be available for download from the Google pay store.
In addition, Samsung will include information about the mHealth services initiative in all their future marketing initiatives, said Allie.
The new cross-ecosystem partnership is designed to provide a range of mHealth services to women and children, with a particular focus on nutrition.
Initial launch partners for the initiative include Gemalto, Hello Doctor, Lifesaver, Mobenzi, Mobilium, MTN, Omega Diagnostics and Samsung.
Collectively, the partnership will reduce barriers to
handset ownership and connectivity for consumers and health workers by
committing to offer discounted Samsung handsets and tablets to consumers and
health workers across Africa; Provide access to the Samsung ecosystem (e.g.
music, video and other value-added services) to be used as an incentive to
drive health usage; Pre-embed a Smart Health application that provides a range
of professional applications, information and services on 80 million Samsung
handsets; and leverage existing and new MTN SIMs to allow free access to health
content, health registration and data collection via the Smart Health
application.
The mHealth initiative is an application on mobile phones that enables women to access health information.
GSMA is an association of mobile operators and related companies devoted to supporting the standardizing, deployment and promotion of the GSM mobile telephone system.
According to a press statement, Director of health at the GSMA, Dr Craig Friderichs, said through its ‘Mobile for Development mHealth’ programme, the mHealth initiative will be launched in 10 African countries by the end of this year.
Dr Friderichs said the context of the partnership is centred around the millennium development goals (MDGs) particularly those with a specific focus on maternal and unborn child health.
Phase one of the GSMA initiative will be rolled out before the end of the year in six priority countries namely Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
Phase two is expected to commence in 2015, and will incorporate additional partners and services, addressing other countries including Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
“We believe that mobile and information and communications technologies (ICT) as a sector has a fundamental role to play in addressing health services,” Dr Friderichs said.
With electronics company Samsung also onboard, Thabiet Allie, head of content and services for the African Regional Headquarters at Samsung Electronics said the company has identified levels of engagement with the partnership.
Samsung plans to offer better pricing for devices, and secondly pre-embed a ‘smart health app’ on all smartphones across sub-Saharan Africa. The app will be available for download from the Google pay store.
In addition, Samsung will include information about the mHealth services initiative in all their future marketing initiatives, said Allie.
The new cross-ecosystem partnership is designed to provide a range of mHealth services to women and children, with a particular focus on nutrition.
Initial launch partners for the initiative include Gemalto, Hello Doctor, Lifesaver, Mobenzi, Mobilium, MTN, Omega Diagnostics and Samsung.
It will also provide simplified access to MTN mobile money,
advertising and billing capabilities; and make innovative diagnostics like the
Omega Diagnostics Visitect HIV CD4 point of care solution more affordable and
accessible via mobile integration.
Through these commitments, the partners aim to simplify the
relationships between mobile and health stakeholders, while maximising the
ubiquitous nature of mobile technology and its capabilities for health
providers and, ultimately, for patients. Health content, patient registration,
data collection and critical diagnostics will increase the access to health
care for vulnerable women and children across Africa, while providing the
delivery mechanism for mHealth services that are commercially sustainable and scalable.
“This partnership heralds a new era in the delivery of
health care in Sub-Saharan Africa, where currently access to even the most
basic of health services remains the worst in the world. MTN is therefore proud
to be part of this collaborative effort, which will deliver solutions that
harnesses the expertise of some of the leading companies in the world, to
improve access to health care for many of our customers across the seven launch
countries,” said MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, Pieter Verkade.
“Current lab based static diagnostics tools are unable to
meet growing patients’ needs as countries step up their HIV treatment programs
in conjunction with the decentralisation of CD4 testing. Multi-layer partnerships for mHealth
smartphone applications are poised to become an essential foundation in the
bridge to augment the continuum of care to the neediest patients, whilst also
providing management information and real time surveillance data,” said Andrew
Shepherd, Founder and Managing Director, Omega Diagnostics Ltd.
“Healthcare in Africa has benefited greatly from
advancements in mobile technology. Simultaneously, the healthcare industry is
moving towards a delivery model that is more patient-centered, value-based and
accessible in even remote environments. In this regard, Samsung is perfectly
positioned to add value to this digital evolution in healthcare, as our devices
are both at the cutting edge of innovation and available widely across the
continent. These capabilities provide the much needed healthcare support in
Africa, ensuring that we are aligned with the Millennium Development Goals as
set by the United Nations,” said Thabiet Allie, Head of Content and Services at
Samsung Electronics Africa.
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators
worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the
world’s mobile operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers
and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as
financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities.
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