A software toolkit developed by m-health-focused non-profit organisation Medic Mobile is having a profound impact on healthcare service delivery across remote Africa say developers.

The Linux-based toolkit runs on the VMware Workstation Player from cloud and business mobility focused firm VMware, and can operate with or without internet connectivity, locally or in the cloud. It enables the collection and wireless transmission of patient data to a central clinic.

Working with VMware, Medic Mobile developed a modified SIM card (often made with a tool as simple as a pair of scissors) that can be inserted into any regular cellphone manufactured after 1992. Medic Mobile calls the device a parallel SIM card. This hardware device is a microcontroller that allows the community health worker to run the Medic Mobile software tool kit apps.

Developers of the technology explain that using a cell phone and the toolkit, health workers are able to register pregnancies, track disease outbreaks, keep stock of medicines, and communicate in realtime about emergencies and with patients.

According to Medic Mobile more than 9,000 healthcare workers, serving over 5 million people in 23 developing countries, are using its tools.

"The results pertaining to maternal and infant health provide an especially good illustration of the successful use of mobility. In Uganda, for example, infant mortality rates are falling year after year since the implementation of the technology. This is largely due to the ability of community health workers to now register pregnancies via a simple text message to the Medic Mobile system, containing the patient's name, estimated due date, and risk factors. The system automatically creates a patient ID and sends automated reminders to patient and health worker regarding scheduled antenatal appointments. If a patient misses an appointment the system will alert the health worker to follow up with the patient," the organisation states.

Dr Danny Devito Gotto of ACODEV, a non-governmental organisation that works in Bwera, Uganda, explains why Uganda has one of the world's highest rates of infant mortality and women dying during childbirth. "Women are too busy because they are working in the fields," Gotto says. "They don't have the time to walk the many miles to the clinic for prenatal care. And they don't make a decision until there's a danger sign, and then, it's often far too late."

"There are a billion people who lack access to healthcare. There are 300,000 women who will die in childbirth this year. And there are at least 10 countries where one in four children will not live to age five. Those are all linked, and they are all unacceptable. Being poor should not mean that you have poor healthcare."says Josh Nesbit, CEO, Medic Mobile

"It's not medical innovation. It's a system innovation and a delivery innovation. It's rethinking who's providing care for whom," Nesbit adds.