Mobile Health Around the Globe: 10 Best Tools to Boost mHealth Initiatives in Africa: Part II

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As promised, here are the rest of the best!  If you haven’t read part I, please do!Image

You are strongly invited to give your opinion or add other tools that are useful for mHealth projects in the comment section!

As promised, here are the rest of the best!  If you haven’t read part I, please do!

You are strongly invited to give your opinion or add other tools that are useful for mHealth projects in the comment section!

6. Sana

 

Sana is a standard-focused open-source system that supports audio, images, location-based data, text, and in the future, video. Sana’s front-end for data and media capture is accessible through a fully programmable workflow interface. The back-end provides an intuitive user interface for management of medical media. Sana was built to be integrated with OpenMRS and other commonly used medical record systems for portability. The system infrastructure and design allows for modularity and interoperation.

Packetization, a synchronization model, and multi-modal data transport allow Sana to operate even in poor cellular coverage areas. While the system is mobile-centric, it is designed to provide alternatives such as WiFi and tethered uploads for bandwidth-constrained situations.

Sana’s mission is to revolutionize healthcare access & delivery for remote populations.

 

Pricing: Free (Open Source)

Applications : Remote diagnosis, Protocol management, …

Users : Wellbody Alliance, Children’s Hospital Boston, …

Weblinks : Sana.MIT.Edu , @SanaMobile

 


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7.  Vumi

 

Vumi is a bespoke conversation engine developed by the Praekelt Foundation in South Africa.

Built for emerging markets, Vumi allows the delivery of SMS, Star Menu and chat messages to diverse audiences. It’s a very effective way to start and manage mobile conversations – with one person or a million, in a city or across an entire continent.

For example the platform has been deployed by SangoNet (the South African NGO Network) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a way of bringing vital information to small-scale farmers in Kenya and Zambia.

In Madagascar Vumi is used by Marie Stopes International to connect and facilitate reporting from their +100 health centers’ network called BlueStar.

 

Pricing: Free (Open Source)

Applications : Communication network, Health workers reporting, …

Users : Human Network International, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,…

Weblinks : Vumi.org , @VumiApp

 

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8.  eMocha

 

The electronic Mobile Open-source Comprehensive Health Application is a free open-source application, developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education

eMOCHA is designed to assist health programs in developing countries improve provider communication and education, as well as patient care, by coordinating wireless devices with local server-based clinical training and patient care support services.

It easily collects patient data, and transforms it into high quality interactive forms such as video, audio files and maps.

 

Pricing: Free (Open Source)

Applications : Health training, Point of care reporting, healthworker knowledge management, …

Users : Uganda government, John Hopkins Center,…

Weblink : eMocha.org

 


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9.  Text To Change

 

TextToChange has developed a well designed flexible mobile phone platform that uses SMS, MMS, voice and data for spreading and collecting information. The TTC platform is perfectly suited for carrying out health-related initiatives.

For example in Uganda, 2008, an interactive SMS-quiz about HIV/AIDS was introduced to a large number of mobile phone users about 3 times a week during 3 weeks. During the pilot project a total of 15.000 active mobile users in the Mabarara region were targeted.

In other projects the TTC platform has been used to assess mobile phone users on their health knowledge and refer them to testing facilities, prevention and treatment clinics, and provide information on services in local areas.

 

Pricing: Free (Open Source)

Applications : Health training, Point of care reporting, healthworker knowledge management, …

Users : UNICEF, Airtel, Health Child, AMREF, …

Weblink : TextToChange.org, @TextToChange

 


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10.  HealthMap

 

HealthMap is a mapping platform developed by the Children’s Hospital Boston utilizing online informal sources for disease outbreak monitoring and real-time surveillance of emerging public health threats.

The web-based platform ‘Healthmap.org’ and mobile app ‘Outbreaks Near Me’ deliver real-time intelligence on a broad range of emerging infectious diseases for a diverse audience including libraries, local health departments, governments, and international travelers.

HealthMap can bring together disparate data sources, including online news aggregates, eyewitness reports, expert-curated discussions and validated official reports, to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health.

For example ProMed has collaborated with HealthMap to create new visualization Tools.

 

Pricing: N/A

Applications : Disease Surveillance.

Users : Wildlife Conservation Society, Ushahidi, …

Weblink : HealthMap.org, @HealthMap

 

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To read other posts in this exclusive ongoing series, please visit the Mobile Health Around the Globe main page. And if you have a Mobile Health Around the Globe story to tell, please leave a comment below or email me at joan@socialmediatoday.com

 

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