IOM Report Lays Out a Blueprint for Improving Regulatory Systems Worldwide

Abstract

of messaging and electronic mapping technology to track weekly stock levels of antimalarial medicines in remote health facilities. Also in development are mobile echocardiograms, mobile microscopes that work through mobile phone cameras, mobile devices that detect toxins in the environment, and numerous other mobile-based tools that can be used alone or with existing technologies. mHealth approaches offer considerable potential benefits, but few have been scientifically evaluated, taken to scale, or carried out long enough to determine their effect, according to Flora Katz, PhD, who is deputy director of the division of international training and research at the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center. “The technology and number of apps and sensors are exploding,” she said. “If we evaluate in the traditional way with randomized control trials, the technology might be obsolete by the end of the trial, so there is a need to develop a rigorous but rapid assessment approach.”