mhealth

m-health or mobile - health is kind of next modified phase of e-health. Mobile phones being more pervasive and easy to use , can play a great role in making m-health more successful than e-health.

m-health can be more successful than e-health for following reasons;

1. rapid advancement in technology
2. emerging field of mobile programming
3. falling prices of cell phones
4. emergence of new and more powerful cell phones with advance features
   
5. easy to use and own for commoners and less educated people
6. more users than internet [total number of mobile users worldwide = 2.7 billion and the number of Internet users = 1.1 billion.2006]
   
7. success failure stories of ehealth as a guidance already available
   
8. Built in capabalility of cell phones for communication through voice , video and image along with the text
   
9. limited power - supply needed, unlike computers requiring electricity for running, which is often a problem in rural setting
   
10. easy to carry
11. war among service providers to introduce new services
    

Mobile device ownership , once considered a luxury, has now become a necessity. As mentioned in "MOBILE SERVICES EVOLUTION 2008-2018" by CHETAN SHARMA , the expanding canvas of mobile phone usage and its services from paying different bills from mobiles and checking mails to watching tv on your cell phone, they have infact become a remote control of our lives.


Checking new SMS, missed calls, and playing games constantly has now become transformed from habit to a disease that every human being is more or less infected with. We use mobile phones more than our brains.We let this machine guide us through out our day from morning alarms , daily schedule to alerts for even lunch breaks.


Therefore , with this scenario , its not far when mobile phones will come with built in applications for personal health care too, like other features such as calendar , calculator , games , etc.