Mobile has a major role to play in healthcare in emerging and developed markets, but operators have to get more involved and let users know it exists, according to a panel of experts.

 

Lisa Mitnick, executive director of Accenture’s Mobility Practice, said a recent survey of mobile users in developed markets found that many see value in using mobile phones for mHealth apps, but few were aware that compatible devices already existed.

 

Part of the reason had to do with the lack of large-scale rollouts of mHealth apps and devices – which itself is partly the product of a lack of interoperability or standards and concerns over the nature of the business model. But a key issue is simply getting the word out, Mitnick said during a mHealth panel at Mobile World Congress.

 

“The market needs education,” she said. “One result we found is that people generally do not correlate mHealth with lower healthcare costs. They don’t get it, so it’s very important to make that clear.”

 

Grameenphone CEO Kazi Islam demonstrated the potential of mHealth with some stark statistics from Bangladesh: 380 out of 1,000 women die of birth complications every year. Most give birth at home and only 12% get help from doctors. And the infant mortality rate is 5.28%.

 

These figures are typical of many emerging markets, he added.

 

“We have a population of 156 million people, but physicians represent just 0.03% of the population, and nurses just 0.014%,” Islam said. “So there will never be enough doctors to serve everyone.”

 

That’s why mobile phones can play a significant role to lessen that burden, he said. “Building more hospitals and hiring more doctors won’t be enough.”

 

Mitnick said that emerging markets were “absolutely” going to lead the drive for mHealth solutions, though she added that it’s important to remember that the sector is in its early days.