The current Ebola outbreak is the deadliest one on record so far. While vaccines are being put on the fast track for development and governments are implementing quarantines on their citizens, the healthcare industry might do well to look at how already existing technologies, mHealth specifically, can help quell the fear and pandemic, suggests Neil Polwart, managing director of Novarum DX, an mHealth company focused on diagnostics.
In a contributed piece for InformationWeek, Mr. Polwart wrote mHealth apps can contribute to improving the traceability of the outbreak. "With cross-border and cross-continental travel becoming readily available to the African population, more must be done to track those who may have come in contact with the virus," he wrote. Being able to trace the outbreak will help us understand where the outbreak started and where infected patients are located.
To do so, mHealth apps should be made available to relief workers and clinicians. According to the report, Africa is seeing one of the fastest growth rate in mobile prescribers in the past 10 years, and African countries are being targeted to reach the United Nation's millennium development goals, including using mobile apps and smart technology to track and share health information in resource-poor areas.
"This begs the question: Why are these technologies not being fast-tracked to assist in the Ebola outbreak?" Mr. Polwart asked. "With rapid point-of-care manufacturers pushing to develop tests that identify Ebola without the need to send patients and samples to off-site labs — a risk in itself — shouldn't mobile technology that reads, shares and tracks results and offers medical advice also be implemented?"
Mr. Polwart mentioned already existing apps allowing relief works and clinicians to track and share results for other illnesses like HIV and malaria using geo-referenced and real-time maps of infected patients, so it would not be entirely new to introduce the same concept for the Ebola outbreak.
"By working together, smartphone providers, mobile networks, application developers and global health organizations can plan and prepare for events such as this, and educate those in resource-poor locations," wrote Mr. Polwart. "Only by quickly understanding the dynamics of disease spread can we have any hope in winning the fight."
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