This week during Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, the Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ initiative and Trice Imaging won the GSMA Global Mobile award for Best Innovation in Mobile Health for their Mobile Ultrasound Patrol project in Morocco. The Mobile Ultrasound Patrol project in Morocco demonstrates the power of advanced wireless technology in addressing maternal health. Through this project, Qualcomm Wireless Reach and Trice Imaging, in conjunction with support from the Moroccan Ministère de la Santé (Ministry of Health), Fujifilm SonoSite and Sony Mobile, work to improve early detection and treatment of major causes of maternal morbidity/mortality and to lower the number of maternal deaths by providing clinics in the countryside with portable ultrasound equipment that is wirelessly connected to specialists in urban hospitals.
The key goal was to validate how advanced wireless technologies and connected portable ultrasound devices can provide access to state-of-the-art imaging diagnostics in places it has never been available before at a significantly lower cost. Medical professionals provided proper care to patients in remote areas using encrypted mobile devices that were connected to a 3G/4G network and a sharing platform that enabled experts to perform remote diagnoses. The time and cost efficiencies gained, without any compromise in quality improved the likelihood for early detection and treatment of the major causes of maternal morbidity/mortality, which could ultimately reduce the number of maternal and child deaths.
Project Impact
The project’s trial results demonstrate the potential of using mHealth solutions in maternal care:
– 575 exams were wirelessly transmitted to clinicians
– 94 exams exposed potential at-risk pregnancies
– 158 patients were flagged for a second opinion
– Use of advanced wireless technologies led to:
– Shortened diagnostic review or second opinion time from two weeks to less than a day
– Reduced ultrasound costs from US$80 to US$2 per patient
– Shortened the delivery of medical data for review from four days to two seconds
– Shortened the time the patient had to wait for a medical opinion from two weeks to less than 24 hours
– Increased local medical practitioners’ skills in delivering ultrasound images from 20 percent sufficient for diagnostic purposes to 92 percent sufficient for diagnostic purposes
– Participating physicians reported an increased number of patients seeking care at health houses after the trial. The number of deliveries in these facilities increased, which is an important step in reducing the number of dangerous at home births.
For more information:
– See case study
– See full report
