Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Handhelds for Health

last updated Jan 23, 2012

Overview

Implementing organization: 
St. John’s Medical College (Bangalore), Indian Institute of Management (Bangalore) and Encore Software
Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Income Level of Target Population: 
All income levels

Technology

Technology Used: 
Phones, PDA/Tablet › Internet, PDA/Tablet › Video-Conference
Technology Purpose: 
Improving Data Management › Data Collection
Summary: 

This program uses handheld devices to let health workers to collect and transmit health data in order to identify disease trends and inform public health decisions.

Key program components: 

Disease outbreaks often start in small clusters. Technology can play a crucial role in quickly detecting and containing initial outbreaks so that broader spread of communicable disease can be prevented. In India, Shashank Garg and Dr. Isha Garg have created Handhelds for Health, a social enterprise that is developing an open source disease surveillance system. With this system, health workers will be able to use mobile devices to collect, validate, and transmit data to a centralized server. The server will be accessible to resident experts, who can use the real-time data to rapidly identify disease trends and make informed public health decisions. Handhelds for Health will also be able to track non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, that require continual medical attention and follow-up. The founders further hope to use the solution to collect and transmit the data required for large, community-based, longitudinal studies of diseases and other health issues.

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