This paper describes the use of mobile health (mHealth) projects in Botswana
in public health interventions. mHealth is broadly defined to include any aspect of health
care facilitated by mobile phone technology. Botswana’s mobile network infrastructure
makes mHealth an ideal tool to address the country’s shortage of physicians and to
respond to the HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria burden of disease. Mobile phones are
used for pediatric TB contact tracing to screen for TB disease and for collecting data on
malaria outbreaks. mHealth tools also address the issue of health provider access
(especially specialist consultations) given the country’s relatively small population spread
over a large land area. Data and camera enabled phones are used for radiology
consultations, dermatology evaluations, and cervical cancer screening. The initial
successes of mHealth projects in this country clearly demonstrate the potential for mobile
phone technology in nationwide health care interventions.