mHealth is here! And yet, even though the potential is tremendous and there is an existing interest in becoming better informed, there is not much provided on the educational side. To meet the growing interest in the topic of mHealth, TechChange and mHealth Alliance have partnered to deliver a four-week online certificate course on ‘Mobile Phones for Public Health.’ The course aims to develop more tangible skills in the mHealth space, and foster the exchange of best practices among practitioners in the sector.
Throughout the course, participants will examine how mobile technologies are revolutionizing approaches to patient care and management, point-of-care support for health workers, health education, diagnostics, and supply chain management and logistics. Through case studies, guest expert interviews, multimedia tutorials, interactive exercises, and live demonstrations of tools, participants will explore delivery mechanisms, such as interactive voice recognition (IVR), SMS (text message) communication programs, smartphone applications, and health information systems for data collection and management. The course aims to present a broad range of perspectives on mHealth, including those from to governments, private sector, academia, NGOs, and bilateral and multi-lateral organizations and donors from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.’
Course topics include:
- Week 1: Introduction to mHealth
- Week 2: Strengthening Health Systems
- Week 3: Moving Towards Citizen-Centered Health
- Week 4: Technology Standards & Interoperability and Learning from other mServices
Have a look at the syllabus here.
It is incredible to see various guest experts from the wider mHealth ecosystem contributing to the course; who are not only experts in the industry, but also industry leaders and amazing speakers, among them:
- Patty Mechael, Executive Director, mHealth Alliance
- Kirsten Gagnaire, Global Director, MAMA
- Gustav Praekelt, Praekelt Foundation
- Sandhya Rao, Senior Advisor, Office of Health, Infectious Diseases and Nutrition, USAID
- Alain Labrique, Assistant Professor, John Hopkins University
- Erica Kochi, Co-founder, Innovation Unit, UNICEF
- Robert Fabricant, Vice President, Creative, frog design
- Armstrong Takang, Federal Ministry of Health
For the entire list of guest experts and additional information please have a look here.
With great outline as well as amazing guest experts contributing to the course, I believe that if you are interested in the mHealth this course is worthwhile considering attending.