Mobile Phones To Fill Poor Nations' Healthcare Gap?

Ian Lamont writes "The Industry Standard has reported on a couple of projects that aim to turn the humble mobile phone into a tool that can improve healthcare systems in the developing world. While poor countries lack adequate healthcare facilities, many have booming mobile phone use, even in rural areas. One company spawned by the MIT Media Lab seeks to leverage widespread mobile phone use with a Java app that lets community workers refer patients for treatment, fill out questionnaires about patient health and send real-time information back to doctors at health clinics. Another hardware-focused project started by a group of researchers at UCLA aims to create a device that can be attached to mobile phones and test blood samples for HIV, malaria, and other diseases, and send the test results to a hospital. However, it's not clear whether most mobile phones in developing countries can support these technologies, or if local healthcare infrastructures can effectively use the data generated by mobile phones."

Wooping Nokia 1100 it's back

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of the phones poor people use are in the range of old Nokia 1100, not only because they're cheap but because they're sturdy and have good reception. Again, a nice and needed help from developed countries that does not work in the field because you just don't get it: that 3rd world people do not need the help you'd need if you were poor (kinda ironic btw). Maybe you can develop some nice gadget to stop your hunger for oil, dope, diamonds and natural resources because that it's what starts everithing. Mood me to the erebus if you like, guess I deserve that for pointing out reality in a trollish fashion but I can't help myself.

Re:Sounds Good

[mabhatter654]

Sad to say many, many places in the USA up to the 1950's only got hospitals if somebody rich built them or a church society founded them. That's why so many have big names or Saint.. attached to them, even ones that are now "public".