The developers of an open source tool that enables remote health workers to send text and images via mobile phone for rapid diagnosis and treatment recommendations has won the first mHealth Alliance Award. Sana, previously called MocaMobile, was selected for both the mHealth Alliance Award and the Vodafone Americas Foundation’s 3rd place prize for its Wireless Innovation Project, to be awarded during a gala dinner this evening at the Global Philanthropy Forum in Redwood City, California.
In the hallways of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the US Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) annual gathering took place last week, cool apps, shiny gadgets, the 4G network and machine-to-machine (M2M) opportunities were dominating discussions. But a closer listen revealed a growing conversation about how the wireless industry is using its networks and devices to transform healthcare.
The unnecessary loss of lives today in the apparent suicide bombing of the World Food Program office in Islamabad, Pakistan, is deeply saddening. The bombing, which killed five WFP employees and injured several more, is a tragic reminder of the incredible risks and sacrifices that humanitarian aid workers face every day while working in difficult and often dangerous conditions.