Australia has 2.5 doctors for every 1,000 people, Uganda has 0.08 for every 1,000 people; America has 2.7, India has 0.6., so how do you cope with 60 people contracting and 1.9 people dying of tuberculosis every minute and 91% of these deaths being in Africa.

Part of the answer is in the most unexpected form of technology – the mobile phone.

The one thing that developing countries increasingly have access to are mobile phones with 71% of Indians and 48.6% of Bangladeshi’s owning mobile phones.

Put this technology in the hands of the right people and attach them to an avalanche of medical tools and resources and you can begin to make a dent in the massive issue.

The UN, World Health Organisation and billions of charitable dollars are being used towards spreading medical assistance through mobile devices to the hitherto near impossible to reach corners of the globe.

This week radio 6PR’s Jason Jordan and I chat about some of the incredible programs and uses for mHealth including playing an onscreen cricket match whilst simultaneously learning about HIV Aids prevention; or feeding your virtual pet as a way to remind you to take your own medicine, or connecting a network of village based basic trained medical providers to a huge network of larger city Doctors and Hospitals.

So the answer to “What do you get when you cross a mobile phone and a Doctor?” is – a cost effective way to spread medical care and knowledge to the most remote and disenfranchised people on our planet.

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