mHealth applications for telemedicine and public health intervention in Botswana

This paper describes the use of mobile health (mHealth) projects in Botswana in public health interventions. mHealth is broadly defined to include any aspect of health care facilitated by mobile phone technology. Botswana's mobile network infrastructure makes mHealth an ideal tool to address the country's shortage of physicians and to respond to the HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria burden of disease. Mobile phones are used for pediatric TB contact tracing to screen for TB disease and for collecting data on malaria outbreaks. mHealth tools also address the issue of health provider access (especially specialist consultations) given the country's relatively small population spread over a large land area. Data and camera enabled phones are used for radiology consultations, dermatology evaluations, and cervical cancer screening. The initial successes of mHealth projects in this country clearly demonstrate the potential for mobile phone technology in nationwide health care interventions.