• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    Sponsored Content
    Center for Global Development
    • News
    • From our partner

    Plugging in to global health: The proliferation of mobile apps

    Mobile apps are becoming an increasingly way to manage global health projects, but this technology must be scaled up beyond pilot programs to become an integral part of the aid strategy, says an expert from the the Center for Global Development.

    By Devex Editor // 16 May 2013
    Mobile apps. Photo by: Jason Howie / CC BY

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Mobile apps are becoming an increasingly way to manage global health projects, but this technology must be scaled up beyond pilot programs to become an integral part of the aid strategy, writes Amanda Gleeson, Director of Global Health Policy and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.

    Mobile applications – or ‘apps’ – seem to be the latest craze in mobile technology for global health programming. The proliferation of these apps is converging around a growing interests in open (and big) data, so you don’t have to look far to find creative ways they are being used to collect and display data in the development sector.

    Mobile users can download apps that map USAID’s portfolio and Development Expertise Clearinghouse (DEC) evaluations. And USAID’s 2012 Hack for Hunger event helped create an open data app from Gareem and Palantir which alert farmers about food security warnings. A few other apps from USAID which are not yet available include Family Choices, which aims “to enhance the perception of a girl’s place in and value to her family,” 9-Minutes, where the user experiences the “adventures of nine months of pregnancy” and Worm Attack!, which focuses on the “strategic use of deworming pills” – although the target audience for these aren’t exactly clear yet. Still, USAID was awarded the “best government policy for mobile development” earlier this year for establishing a dedicated mobile solutions team to bring these kinds of apps to underserved communities.

    USAID isn’t the only organization that has started to apply mobile applications in their programming. Last year the WHO introduced its first app – a mobile version of its Global School-based Student Health Survey which collects information on the health and behaviors of adolescents – and more recently issued an app to help parents keep track of children’s vaccinations. The World Bank also offers 17 different mobile apps on its website, from the World Bank Gender DataFinder to Doing Business at a Glance.

    Apps for global health have a short history – IntraHealth claims to have released the first global health app just last year (see full archive of global development apps here). So how important will they will be to the global health community?

    The history of mHealth more broadly has shown that this convergence of mobile technology and data can have major implications for development — from tracking population movements to replacing traditional data sources. And the potential audience (and data sample) is enormous. In 2011, there were almost 6 billion mobile cellular telephone subscriptions globally (three quarters of the planet’s population). 

    But there are certainly cautionary lessons that can be learned from the surging popularity of mHealth — now an estimated $2 billion dollar business this year. Despite mHealth’s popularity, few (if any) programs have been able to scale up past the pilot phase and become integral part of health systems. Similarly, the problems that have hindered the success of mhealth in terms of coordination across funders and implementers will likely also be a challenge for global health apps — potentially limiting the efficiency and effectiveness of investments in these technologies. While mobile apps seem promising, it remains to be seen if they will be able to overcome many of the same issues mHealth have faced.

    Edited for style and republished with permission from the Center for Global Development. Read the original article.

    • Innovation & ICT
    • Global Health
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Devex Editor

      Devex Editor

      Thanks a lot for your interest in Devex News. To share news and views, story ideas and press releases, please email editor@devex.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Global Health ‘What’s in’ and ‘what’s out’ in USAID’s global health programming

    ‘What’s in’ and ‘what’s out’ in USAID’s global health programming

    Devex CheckUpDevex CheckUp: What are the new US global health priorities?

    Devex CheckUp: What are the new US global health priorities?

    Most Read

    • 1
      How low-emissions livestock are transforming dairy farming in Africa
    • 2
      Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
    • 3
      Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB
    • 4
      WHO names new directors in ongoing restructure
    • 5
      State Department employees in anxious limbo over massive staff cuts
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement