Africans tie mobile data to health care improvements

Bridging the digital divide is the key to improving Africa's health, according to organizers of a conference in Namibia this week.

And the fastest way to do it is through mobile links.

Speakers at the IST-Africa conference in Windhoek said e-health services are key to addressing the AIDS crisis, and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) will be key to dealing with future pandemics on a continent where movement is becoming freer.

Maria Zolfo, who runs the Insitute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, emphasized that, in this case, telemedicine does not need to be complex to be effective.

A simple discussion group on a Web site is an enormous improvement over simple e-mail, she said.

Dusan Soltes, from Comenius University in Slovakia, proposed that up to 6% of all African government budgets be targeted at e-Health infrastructure, calling it "the only alternative" for making rapid improvements in health care.

EMRs are needed as migration within Africa increases, he added, so doctors know patient histories and fraud can be reduced.

A survey by three Namibia researchers found 99% have access to a landline or a mobile phone, and 74% now have access to TV. They suggested more investment in mobile data for two-way e-health applications, with TV used for health education. 

In the West, where we take broadband Internet links and PCs for granted, the mobile links available to Africans may seem primitive. What the conference participants concluded was that, while they may seem primitive, they may in fact be adequate.

Any electronic health application that can live within the constraints of mobile bandwidth may have a big market in the developing world.