After five years in the nation's capital, the mHealth Alliance is heading out into the field.
The international organization, composed of more than 300 organizations from 59 countries, has announced a move to South Africa in 2014 and a co-location with the Johannesburg-based Praekelt Foundation, a long-standing leader in the development of programs that promote social well-being. Organization officials say the move "reflects the alliance's natural evolution to engage in projects and initiatives that focus on specific countries or regions, while still maintaining the powerful global voice it has cultivated through its relationship with the UN Foundation."
"We're proud of the catalytic role that the alliance has played in moving the mHealth, as well as the broader global health and development communities, from the question of 'whether' mHealth ought to be pursued to the question of 'how' to most effectively implement it," said Patty Mechael, the alliance's executive director, in an interview with mHealth News. "In response to this shift, the alliance has been able to expand its focus and increasingly engage with mHealth on the country-level – from our work with the Innovation Working Group mHealth grantees in 14 countries throughout the world, to our engagement with the Government of Nigeria's Saving One Million Lives initiative, and now to our exciting network of mHealth experts on the country and regional level through the mHealth Expert Learning Program (mHELP)."
"We recognize that with around 700 days left to achieve the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there is need for even more concerted engagement on capacity building for mHealth at the country and regional level," she added. "When we made the decision to move to the Global South, it was largely in response to the question 'How do we best capitalize on this perishable moment?'"
Hosted by the United Nations Foundation, the alliance includes founding partners Norad, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Vodaphone Foundation, HP and the GSM Association.
Through the years, the mHealth Alliance has been an active participant in the HIMSS Media mHealth Summit (which Mechael was scheduled to help launch Monday morning in Washington D.C.) and delivered 26 catalytic grants and technical support to groups in 14 countries, reaching an estimated 31 million people around the globe with much-needed healthcare information and services. The alliance also manages Health Unbound, an online resource, and has produced more than 20 publications and taken the lead in dozens of initiatives for improving mHealth access in low- and middle-income nations.
"This move gives the alliance the opportunity to continue our important convening and global thought leadership work, but we'll now be able to inform that work with more in-country experience from the Global South," Mechael said. "This is a tremendously positive development for the alliance and the entire community. It is something that many people have been asking for, and in conversations with a diverse range of mHealth stakeholders we've received an overwhelmingly positive response to this decision. We are looking forward to putting a full transition plan into action next year."
“The UN Foundation has been proud to provide a home for the alliance and act as its ‘incubator’ for the past five years. This transition represents a unique opportunity to move an initiative beyond incubation and to a point where it can have an even greater impact on achieving the MDGs,” said Kathy Calvin, the UN Foundation's president and CEO, in a recent press release. “We look forward to staying engaged in the important work of mobile health and to supporting the alliance’s efforts to mainstream mobile technology into health systems. We will also continue to engage in mHealth work through the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA).”
