Mobile Services & Technologies
Over the last decade expansion of cell phone service has been nothing less than revolutionary in even the poorest nations. In 2008 it is expected that the number of mobile phone users will overtake the number of non-users this year for the first time and ownership rates in developing countries are rising the fastest. In Sub-Saharan Africa usage is growing close to 50% annually and about 45 percent of villages were covered by a mobile phone signal in 2006. Many countries will have universal coverage by the end of the decade.
The rapid escalation in both cell phone coverage areas and cell phone users in developing countries has created a unique opportunity to improve a wide range of applications and services that contribute to reducing disparities in poor communities. Focusing initially on health, the Blum Center seeks to respond to this opportunity with the implementation of three initiatives that take advantage of ICT improvements to expand and improve health-related services to rural populations.
"Bodas For Life"
This initiative leverages existing local infrastructure to improve access to healthcare. It does so by using the voice capacity of cell phones as a platform for emergency first aid and transportation provided by local motorcycle “taxi” drivers. (Right: Blum Fellow, Meera Chary, with Boda drivers, Uganda. Credit: Amanda Oudin, 2007)
SmartPhones for Better Healthcare
This project uses the data and communication capacity of the cell phones to support an innovative voucher-based program for the treatment of sexually transmitted illnesses (STIs) in East Africa. (Right: UC Berkeley Grad Student Melissa Ho Demonstrates Smartphone, Kampala, Uganda)
Telemicroscopy for Disease Diagnosis
This project focuses on the development of a medical microscope designed for use with mobile phones. The new device will facilitate more accurate diagnosis and treatment of disease in poor rural communities by facilitating remote analysis of biological samples such as blood. (Right: CellScope in action: Examining a microscope slide. Credit: David Breslauer, Wilbur Lam and Tom Hunt)