Centre collaborateur de l’OMS

The “mHealth for Ageing” workshop and associated side events will form part of the WHO/ITU Be He@lthy, Be Mobile’ initiative that encourages broad collaboration between universities, governments, private sector, and NGOs to support efforts to address Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. The workshop will focus on how to scale up the use of mobile technologies for the ageing population using an older person-centred approach. The invitation list includes: country representatives, academics working on mHealth and ageing, technology and design experts, WHO staff, ITU staff, Be He@lthy, Be Mobile secretariat staff, and bilateral and multilateral agencies supporting the Be He@lthy, Be Mobile initiative.

Objectives

To convene experts in the field of aging, country representatives, WHO staff and partners to discuss the content and process of potential scale-up of mobile technologies for the ageing population. 

Be He@lthy, Be Mobile Initiative

About the mHealth Initiative

Leveraging the potential of text based messaging, the ‘Be He@lthy, Be Mobile’ programme started in 2012 as a joint initiative between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). It was established in direct response to the UN General Assembly’s call for concerted action towards NCDs in 2011. The initiative has been operational for more than two years and has official programmes in 9 countries, with expressions of interest received from more than 50 countries. It uses mobile phone based technology as a tool for prevention and control of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their associated risk factors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and harmful use of alcohol.

Scope of the Initiative

The WHO-ITU initiative has completed its first four-year phase, and is beginning phase two in 2017. It has developed mHealth handbooks with content on the relevant mHealth areas for use by countries implementing national mHealth programmes. So far nine countries have signed up, representing a range of income groups and disease burdens: Costa Rica, Norway, Philippines, Senegal, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Zambia, India, and Egypt. There have been additional expressions of interest from over 50 other national governments.