In Pictures: 10 examples of mobile health around the world

Conducting Directly Observed Therapy

Diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis, common in the developing world, require medications that quickly lose efficacy if patients skip even one dose. Some countries therefore mandate "directly observed therapy," or DOT, which requires health care professionals to directly observe patients taking medications. This generally means a patient goes to a health clinic every day, waits in line, take pills and then leaves. Mobile phones let DOT happen at home. For example, the Video Cell Phone: Directly Observed Therapy program, a collaboration among the UCSD Division of Global Public Health and the TB Control Programs of San Diego County and the city of Tijuana, Mexico, let patients record and send mobile videos of themselves taking TB medications to DOT workers located elsewhere.