A recent article in The Economist on the mobile industry’s response to disease outbreaks (i.e. Ebola) highlighted the potential role that mobile operators can play in making healthcare institutions (e.g. private, NGO and public sector systems) more accountable to citizens in late developed countries.

Data collected through mobile can help governments and international aid agencies respond to the needs of people living in poverty and affected by disease. Indeed, programmes are being rolled out across the globe, many of which are supported by pioneering GSMA initiatives. While much work is needed in the case of Ebola, the general message is one of potent opportunity.

However, big questions remain. For instance, is the BIG data collected through health workers on a population being used effectively to improve healthcare delivery? Or does it simply go into the abyss?

Major challenges need to be tackled to make health data work more effectively to encourage better and faster resource allocation in response to health crises. 

One commonly overlooked challenge is that of the directionality of data. Independent studies have shown that mobile integration into existing information systems (used by governments to plan their resource allocations) are not universally successful. These are known as Health Management Information Systems (HMIS), for example, the Health Information System Programme (see www.hisp.org).

Directionality can be an issue because the data, which has been successfully collected by community health workers through mobiles, is transported up the system hierarchy to senior decision makers. It rarely comes back down to grass-roots management teams for use at local level. Consequently, it is highly challenging for field workers to respond to health epidemics. 

Consider a purely hypothetical example inspired by field research from the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics (LSE) focusing on Sub-Sahara Africa (see http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/56058/).

Health workers report (via mobile devices) on the number of people with Ebola symptoms in their community. This data is reported up the hierarchy (HISP system) from health workers to senior staff and decision makers. Once collated from different mobiles and locations, it is not sent back to the health workers on-the-ground. This means community workers would not know to take the necessary precautions against Ebola. Furthermore, health institutions cannot respond appropriately to the crisis.

In summary, further attention needs to be paid to who has access to BIG health data collected by mobiles and health workers. GSMA’s Mobile for Development mHealth programme has the potential to support and encourage the devolution of health data for local planning needs. It is important to encourage such initiatives so that mHealth programmes can be as effective as we know they can be.

For more information on GSMA Mobile for Development mHealth, please see here or contact us on [email protected]. For information on global mHealth initiatives, click here.