An mHealth Approach to Addressing Health Inequity
ABSTRACT: Little is known at the local level how mHealth interventions support consumers’ goal of a healthy lifestyle and the impact of mHealth interventions on providing equitable care. This paper investigates: 1) the social determinants of health (SDOH) that affect the ability of people to be healthy and 2) clinicians use of mHealth interventions to facilitate equitable provision of healthcare. Socioeconomic and health data was collected from all 93 Nebraska counties. A positive correlation was found between the ability of people to be healthy and their access to health insurance and fresh food. A correlation was also discovered between poverty and the ability of people to be healthy and access food. A mobile app was then developed to provide information on available community resources for patients of a student-run free clinic. The contribution of this study is determining how mHealth can be used as a sustainable health equity intervention.
Keywords: Health equity, Social determinants of health, mHealth, Systems engineering, Sustainable development
Creating a Better World with Information and Communication Technologies: Health Equity
ABSTRACT: When news broke on 23rd July 2014, that a case of the deadly virus Ebola had been confirmed in Lagos, home to about 21 million people and a major transportation hub, the World held its breath. If not contained, this virus could spread quickly killing a multitude of people around the World. By 15th October, cases of Ebola had been recorded around the World: Liberia reported 4249 cases with 2458 deaths, Sierra Leone reported 3252 cases with 1183 deaths, Guinea 1472 cases with 843 deaths, Nigeria reported 20 cases with 8 deaths, the USA reported 3 cases and 1 death, Spain and Senegal reported 1 case with no deaths (Qureshi et al, 2015).
Keywords: Health equity, Information and Communication Technologies, Mobile signals, Equitable healthcare, social media
Role of Social Determinants of Health in building an mHealth application
ABSTRACT: The pandemic has shown that the health of those with the least resources affects the rest of the population. Social determinants of health effect health disparities leading to greater inequities between those with and those without the resources needed to stay healthy. In order to help people, find resources they need to stay healthy, an mHealth application was created. Data was collected through this mobile application to investigate: what are the social determinants of health resources (SDOH) that are needed to address health inequities? Using this data, an mHealth prototype was developed to help understand whether the application can be useful in addressing the health inequities in a local community. Following a design science approach, the analysis suggests that resources for some social determinants of health are more useful than others. The contribution of this paper is in uncovering the SDOH resources that are needed to address the health inequities.
Keywords: Health equity, Social determinants of health
Social Determinants of Health Inequities and Human Development: Is there a role for mHealth in overcoming health inequities?
ABSTRACT: The spread of the pandemic in recent years has disproportionately affected people who are unable to access the basic resources needed to survive. Such resources include but are not limited to food, shelter, capital and the ability to find the information they need to stay healthy. These socioeconomic factors influence the manner in which people and communities are able to recover. This paper investigates the relationship between social determinants of health and human development and the role of mHealth in overcoming health inequities. Data was collected for 27 variables from 189 countries through the United Nations, World Bank and the World Health Organization’s databases. Following an analysis of a model comprising of indices created to test a set of hypotheses, this paper offers unique insight into the social determinants of health that can be overcome through mHealth. The contribution of this paper is in uncovering the social determinants of health that are related to human development and how mhealth access is related to social determinants of health and the Human Development Index. This has implications for how inequalities may be addressed through mobile health applications to bring about human development.
Keywords: Health equity, Social determinants of health, mHealth, Health inequity
The Effect of Mobile Health and Social Inequalities on Human Development and Health Outcomes: Mhealth for Health Equity
ABSTRACT: The equitable provision of healthcare entails the distribution of resources and other processes to overcome health inequality. The concept of heath equity suggests that differences in social and economic backgrounds of people affect their ability to lead the lives they choose to live. Following a review of what is known about health equity, social determinants of health equity and the role of mobile health, this paper investigates the relationship between mHealth, social inequalities in life expectancy and in education on Human Development and Health and Wellbeing. The analysis discovers a significant relationship between mHealth, social inequalities in human development and health outcomes. These findings have important implications for the use of mHealth applications to achieve health equity. The contribution of this paper is in understanding the role of social inequalities in and mHealth in enabling people to bring about improvements in the lives they lead and in their health outcomes.
Keywords: Health equity, Human development, mHealth, Healthcare, wellbeing
