mHealth: a Global Perspective

OECD Expert Consultation on Mobile

Technology-Based Services for Global Health

& Wellness

Harvard Global Health Institute, Boston, 5-6 Oct. 2016

Dr Joan Dzenowagis

eHealth Unit, WHO Geneva

Strengthening WHO

• Capacity

• Coordination

• Quality

Global networks

• NGOs and CCs

• Professional associations

• Industry associations

• Academia

Technical expertise

• Global situation, trends and evidence

• Tools and services

• Norms and standards

• Governance, strategies, ethics

Global advocacy and leadership

• Interagency partnerships

• Intersectoral collaboration

• Agenda setting

eHealth Unit

eHealth @ WHO

National context for eHealth development

Experimentation

Early adoption

Developing and

Building up Scaling up

Mainstreaming

Strengthening

eHealth enabling

environment, create

foundations

Strengthening

infrastructure,

make the case for

eHealth

Scaling-up and

integration, cost-

effectiveness,

policies for

privacy, security

and innovation

Source: http://www.who.int/ehealth/en

Established ICT

environment

Emerging ICT

environment

Overall market and penetration of infrastructure

Established

enabling

environment

for eHealth

Emerging

enabling

environment

for eHealth

Governance, policy, standards and human resources

WHO/ITU National eHealth Strategy Toolkit

Performance

National eHealth components

WHO/ITU National eHealth Strategy Toolkit

eHealth components are introduced or strengthened through a strategy. All components are considered, even if not addressed in the final strategy.

Source: http://www.who.int/ehealth/en

GOe Survey 2015: Areas covered

eHealth applications: public services,

knowledge services, provider services

Enabling policies and strategies: citizen

protection, equity, diversity, interoperability,

capacity development

Foundations: governance, policy, funding,

infrastructure

mHealth: Selected findings, 2015

Over 80% of 125 responding countries have

government-sponsored mHealth programmes

mHealth is primarily guided by eHealth and

telehealth policies (60%), but no specific policy

guidance in 30% of countries

Over half of Member States are actively

promoting mHealth and providing guidance in

standards, privacy and security

Selected findings (2)

Gaps include policies on data ownership,

regulation of devices, oversight of mobile health

apps and evaluation

mHealth primarily extends current health

programmes & services, at national or local level

(vs international)

Countries have a mix of pilots and established

programmes, the latter are growing

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0102030405060708090

100110120

Pe

rce

nt

of

cou

ntr

ies

Nu

mb

er

of

cou

ntr

ies

Number Percent

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

Adoption of mHealth

programmes by type, 2015

mHealth programmes in

countries reporting in 2010 & 2015

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

mHealth programmes support health

services in all income groups

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

Role of national health authorities in

mHealth, globally, 2015

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

The evaluation gap is significant

(2015, n=122)

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

Indicators used by countries evaluating

government mHealth programmes

0% 50% 100%

Programme acceptance…

Programme acceptance (target…

Access

Quality

Cost-effectiveness (providers)

Health Outcome

Sustainability

Cost-effectiveness (target groups)

Percent of countries evaluating mHealth, n=14

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

Barriers to mHealth implementation,

globally (n=116)

Source: WHO Global Observatory for eHealth, 2016

National context: remarks

Across the survey, there is notable regional

variation in the e/mHealth enabling environment

Sharing of data between countries is an important

area for further work

Legal frameworks must evolve to accommodate

transfer of information between patients, providers

and devices

The growth in adoption of legal frameworks is a

strong and positive indicator for eHealth

development.