Mobile health and health systems: determining progress in global health

Abstract

Usually when we talk about information technologies we are speaking about the technology itself and its contents. In this article I want to focus on mobile technologies for health (mobile health), but not so much on the content of mobile health but in its context, represented by the health systems where these technologies are deployed. The central message is that in order to capitalize on the potential of the mobile communications revolution, it is not only necessary to innovate in the field of the same technologies but also in the institutions that enable these technologies to reach their potential beneficiaries.