Opinion: mHealth, a game changer in healthcare

Government must capitalise on the utilisation of mobile phones given their potential to better healthcare

By Dr Vijayalakshmi S

It is high time to consider that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a threat to the progress towards the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development. SDG 3.4 targets reducing the probability of death from NCD by 2030 between the age group of 30 and 70 years by one-third of the world population.

---

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that nearly 18 million deaths in the world are due to NCDs which occur before the age of 70 years. What is shocking is that the report highlights that nearly 82% of these premature deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. As per the WHO data of 2021, in India, the NCD-related mortality is around 49.1 per cent and the probability of dying from it is 22 per cent.

Cause for Concern

However, the top cause of death remains Covid-19, with 221.3 per one lakh population in the country. The next mortality cause is related to NCD like Ischemic heart diseases (110.8) and COPD (70.5). This data makes us worry about the prevention method. WHO (2024) identified that one of the key tools to respond to NCDs is detection.

The preventive healthcare industry is the most dynamic and evolving sector in the world. This industry plays a significant role in assuring people’s well-being and detecting potential health risks at an early stage. This makes it possible to prevent critical or challenging treatment, which leads to both productivity and economic loss.

Adopting Tech

According to the World Bank and WHO, nearly half of the world population does not have access to essential healthcare services. At this juncture, the adoption of evolving technologies in the healthcare sector has become imperative. One can observe increasing research in artificial intelligence (predictive models) for the early detection of diseases. The predictive models leverage their data from mobile health (mHealth).

Mobile health (mHealth) solutions are gaining widespread acceptance in advanced nations leveraging intelligent applications and AI to revolutionise patient care, diagnostics and treatment

A PwC report in 2017 estimated that the adoption of mHealth itself will reduce approximately $14 billion and $3.8 billion in Brazil and Mexico respectively. This signifies the importance of technology in the healthcare industry. As often observed, the application of technology in the healthcare sector has evolved drastically. Apart from detecting health issues or providing sophisticated healthcare services, technology is playing a key role in preventive strategies.

In this regard, mobile health has emerged as a level-playing industry in the healthcare sector. Mobile health (mHealth) solutions are gaining widespread acceptance in advanced nations leveraging intelligent applications and AI to revolutionise patient care, diagnostics and treatment. With a market size of $111.5 billion, China leads the adoption of mHealth in the world. The pace of adoption in Third World economies like Ethiopia is much faster than other countries (NIH, 2014). A report says that 83 per cent of 112 member states reported the presence of at least one mHealth initiative in their country. This penetration points out that the future of the healthcare industry lies in the adoption of technology at a much faster rate.

India’s Case

In the case of India, the penetration and adoption of technology in the healthcare sector require immediate attention. It is reported that nearly 30 per cent of the Indian population does not have access to public healthcare facilities. According to a Global Burden of Disease report, total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost are 51.8 million years for the Indian population. One key measure is the adoption of mHealth in the preventive care industry.

In a study conducted by RV University on the adoption and penetration of mHealth among urban dwellers in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, it is estimated that the adoption of mHealth has played a key role in preventive NCDs among the users of mHealth apps.

However, a key concern raised by the study is that nearly 30 per cent of the study respondents are not aware of the potentiality of mHealth in preventive strategy. Further, the study also found that there is a dire need for medical experts to authorise the technology as there are nearly more than 10,000 applications available for smartphone users.

The government must allocate resources and capitalise on the utilisation of mHealth, given its substantial potential to contribute to the country’s development. Though the government of India through the National Health portal, created by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, took a lot of measures (even created a body called National e-Health Authority) to showcase several health apps and initiatives for the development of the apps, right education regarding the usage is the need of the hour.

One such initiative that the Government of India can follow is to adopt the MAiHEALTH initiative of a mobile and virtual medical centre started in rural Patea, New Zealand. Under this, teachers conduct essential health assessments, upload the data to the cloud and transmit the information to centralised digital health teams. This enables the team to quickly assess the information; clinicians approve treatment plans and prescriptions are sent to parents or caregivers. With this collected information, the pattern of disease can be extracted and then taught to digital health assessors. This innovative approach holds the potential to reduce emergency visits and hospitalisations, marking a significant step towards more efficient and accessible preventive healthcare delivery.

(The author is Assistant Professor in Economics, School of Business, RV University, Bengaluru)