Mobile Phone Based Health Care Technology

According to the World Health Organization reports, chronic diseases are by far the leading cause of mortality in the world, which places an ever enormous strain on the world's healthcare industry. At the same time, mobile phones have been gradually adopted for solving some tough health care issues which are hard to tackle otherwise from conventional medical strategies. Since mobile phone is a most easily available electronic device which supports a variety of technical functions for human daily activities, efforts are being made to dig out its roles in the delivery of healthcare services and the promotion of personal health. At the present stage, application of mobile phone in health care is a combination of sensor and communicating technology. In this article, some most typical technical approaches leading to several patented health care mobile phone are outlined and digested. They include but are not limited to mobile phones combined or integrated with sensors, modified with additional functions, such as stethoscope, etc. Future prospects along this direction will be discussed.