Mobile technology has become more prevalent in today's society, and has even begun sneaking its way into the professional health world. The headline: MIT-led student team develops mobile-device software to help improve health-care accessibility in remote regions. Using Google's Android operating system, Sana (formerly known as Moca), works by collecting patient data, as well as pictures, and uploading that information to an electronic-record database, allowing for easy communication between medical clinics in developing countries.
The effort, known as "telemedicine" allows physicians to provide healthcare to patients through electronic or digital means in countries like India and the Philippines. The software was developed in a NextLab class by a group of students, who eventually formed a volunteer organization to distribute the code for free and help deploy Sana in developing countries. By distributing the application as an open-source software, developers can customize the application to suit their needs within a specific region. To view sample procedure on how the application works, visit here: http://www.sanamobile.org/demo.html.
The Problem
The only issue I see with the application, also mentioned in the article, is the cost of Android-equipped devices. An Android phone would cost between $365 and $725 in the Philippines and between $120 and $250 in India (regular mobile phones start at about $30 in the Philippines and $20 in India, in comparison). This means that other developers could offer a different mobile-health solution with the same or more functionality at a lower cost.
Otherwise, the application could prove to be very successful. By abiding to this idea of "shared responsibility"--basically meaning that Sana is really about countries training other countries to utilize technology--Sana seems to have a bright future. Their next steps include implementing data-encryption for security purposes, as well as spreading the use of the application on a large scale throughout India and the Philippines.
