Mobile Health in China: A Review of Research and Programs in Medical Care, Health Education, and Public Health

Abstract

There are nearly 1 billion mobile phone subscribers in China. Health care providers, telecommunications companies, technology firms, and Chinese governmental organizations use existing mobile technology and social networks to improve patient–provider communication, promote health education and awareness, add efficiency to administrative practices, and enhance public health campaigns. This review of mobile health in China summarizes existing clinical research and public health text messaging campaigns while highlighting potential future areas of research and program implementation. Databases and search engines served as the primary means of gathering relevant resources. Included material largely consists of scientific articles and official reports that met predefined inclusion criteria. This review includes 10 reports of controlled studies that assessed the use of mobile technology in health care settings and 17 official reports of public health awareness campaigns that used text messaging. All source material was published between 2006 and 2011. The controlled studies suggested that mobile technology interventions significantly improved an array of health care outcomes. However, additional efforts are needed to refine mobile health research and better understand the applicability of mobile technology in China's health care settings. A vast potential exists for the expansion of mobile health in China, especially as costs decrease and increasingly sophisticated technology becomes more widespread.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Mr. Chang-jun Bao from the Jiangsu Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention for informative conversations related to public health text messaging health education campaigns. This research was supported by the Fulbright Program, U.S. Department of State.

Notes

Note. CG = control group; IG = intervention group; RMB = Chinese currency (renminbi); SMS = short message service.

QQ is the name of most popular instant messaging program in China; Fetion is a multifunction China Mobile communications service, including bulk SMS capability (http://www.peoples.com.hk/p_messaging_fetion_overview_en.jsp; http://feixin.10086.cn/service).

*Control status scale in type 2 diabetic patients (Zhao et al., 2004).

*Includes notifications with content specific for elderly adults, pregnant women, children, and those with sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and schistosomiasis.