About the session
The use of mobile telephones (m-phones) is spreading rapidly worldwide, also reaching the most isolated and socially marginalised communities. The opportunities it offers in public health are increasingly being described in the literature. However, its potential in the training of, and support to local health workers has been only partially explored, less so its use in combination with innovative active learning approaches. The MobileDiagnosis experience shows that m-phones may be considered as an appropriate technology to educate, empower and mentor local health workers, enabling team-work and collaboration among peers, contributing to improved healthcare quality locally, and making knowledge and experience widely accessible and shared globally. The m-phone is just a tool; its potential for the common good depends on the use we make of it, on our imagination and creativity. The MobileDiagnosis approach and experience is but a very small attempt to use it as a tool of liberating education.
