What is mHealth?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Group defined mHealth as “the use of mobile wireless communication devices to improve health outcomes, health care services, and health research”. It is a recent term used to encompass the use of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient-monitoring devices, PDAs, and other wireless devices, to support medical and public health practice.
mHEalth applications, include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery of healthcare information to practitioners, researchers, and patients; real-time monitoring of patient vital signs; and direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine). It can enhance diagnosis, help prevent diseases, improve treatments, improve accessibility to health care, and advance health-related research.