Mobile Personal Health Records: Research Agenda for Applications in Global Health

Health threats, such as HIV/AIDS, maternal health and SARS, are global in nature, as their impact goes beyond the borders of any one nation. This has compelled a global approach to combating these threats, commonly by multinational partnerships among many different types of institutions. Although diffusion of mobile technology in the developing world has been successful, and personal health records on mobile devices (mPHRs) have shown effectiveness in certain health-related contexts, they have not been widely used to address health threats globally. The purpose of this article is to discuss six areas in which research on mPHRs can be used to address global health issues.