GSK and Public Health England (PHE) will join the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Be He@lthy, Be Mobile initiative, conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Be He@lthy Be Mobile partners already include BUPA, Verizon and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), the African Development Bank and The NCD Alliance.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré welcomed the partnerships, saying that non-communicable diseases are the single greatest factor contributing to mortality and the overall disease burden in developed countries and emerging economies alike.
“Where m-Health is concerned, ITU works with WHO to share our long-standing experience and our competence in mobile technologies and healthcare as well as our network of partners. We look forward to harness the potential of these new partnerships with GSK and Public Health England to help accelerate the adoption of mobile health interventions worldwide.”
Launched in October 2012, the Be He@lthy, Be Mobile initiative looks at developing best practices and bringing them to scale. It is planned to run for four years initially.
In its first phase, the initiative is focusing on deploying mobile health interventions in areas such as diabetes, smoking cessation, hypertension, cancers, wellness as well as training of health workers. More than 35 countries have already expressed interest in participating.
A national smoking cessation program via mobile phones is currently underway in Costa Rica. In June 2014 Senegal released a national m-Ramadan campaign to help diabetics manage their diabetes during Ramadan. Zambia is also planning to launch a national mobile cervical cancer program.