Health eVillages: Mobilizing Global Health
While the mobile revolution is changing the way the world is approaching healthcare, developing regions are experiencing a severe deficit of these vital technologies. In remote areas, where mobile healthcare is often needed the most, clinicians strive to change lives with limited access to water, electricity, or updated medical resources.
Mobile Medicine to Reach the Most Remote Regions
Health eVillages, a mobile initiative launched by Physicians Interactive and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center), responds to these global needs by donating mobile devices (such as an iPhone or iTouch) loaded with relevant medical tools and clinical reference information from Skyscape, Inc. that can immediately help medical professionals practicing in the field.
Launched in September 2011, Health eVillages distributes new and refurbished mobile devices, loaded with up-to-date medical information, to caregivers working in disadvantaged areas all over the world. In little under a year, pilot programs reached physicians in Uganda, Haiti, New Orleans, and Kenya, working with organizations like Angels of Hope and Doctors without Borders.
“The initial feedback [from these pilots has] surpassed our expectations,” said Donato Tramuto, CEO and Vice Chairman of Physicians Interactive and Co-Founder of Health eVillages, during his Keynote Speech this year at Health 2.0, San Francisco, where he announced the launch of Health eVillages. “Doctors who had been guessing about dosing, drug interactions, appropriate treatment, were now equipped with the information on the Physician Interactive devices, and able to make safe and effective decisions for patients’ health.”
With the help of generous donations and partnerships, Health eVillages strives to enhance the standard of care for impoverished communities worldwide. Healthcare and human rights advocates such as Partners Community Healthcare, Allscripts, and Maximus contribute to making Health eVillages a global success. Loaded with medical apps and tools from the leading worldwide provider in mobile medical information, Skyscape, these devices give clinicians the opportunity to change the lives of entire communities, by accessing updated medical resources and treatment plans.
Empowering change with mobile technology
Domestic and international regions face specialized needs and challenges that make standardizing healthcare difficult. Customized medical content and support tools from Skyscape geared towards a community’s specific needs is in part what has made Health eVillages a valuable asset. In Lwala, Kenya, anesethesia accounts as one of the top four causes of death in the operative maternal patient. Here, clinicians received clinical reference ‘apps’ focused on HIV/AIDs, prenatal, maternity, and pediatrics to ensure rapid access to the information they would utilize the most.
“Currently, more than one billion people live in rural, underserved areas with inadequate access to healthcare and nearly one third of are experiencing critical shortages of skilled healthcare workers,” said Kerry Kennedy, President of the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights and Co-Founder of Health eVillages. “Health eVillages will empower caregivers domestically and internationally by arming them with medical tools and references in regions that lack access to critical and lifesaving technology.”
In communities with hardly any access to basic resources, Health eVillages helps centers like the Angels of Hope Clinic in Mattuga, Uganda expand their reach even further. With plans to expand into Northern Uganda, mobile technology is crucial to help volunteer nurses manage increased workloads and a larger network of patients and caregivers.
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the recent oil spill have left many experiencing symptoms of chemical exposure from crude oil or other chemicals. With the help of a five-year partnership between the RFK Center and the Jefferson County Community Health Center, Health eVillages delivered mobile devices to New Orleans during Spring, 2011. The applications were specifically designed to aid in the diagnosis and documentation of toxic exposure cases that saved the center on time, money, and medical complications.
With the help of organizations like Health eVillages and the RFK Center, the global healthcare community can expect to receive enhanced quality of care no matter where they are. Health eVillages is helping make access to quality healthcare a standard, not a question.
“We have stepped forward a little bit further than where we were yesterday,” Tramuto says of the positive changes Health eVillages is already making in just over a year. “And that is what Health eVillages is all about.”
Media Contact:
Alexis Scarpinato
Physicians Interactive
Tel. 847.984.1761
Alexis.Scarpinato@PhysiciansInteractive.com
- eMarketer, Mobile Healthcare Marketing: Prescription for Health and Wellness on the Go, September 2011
