The United Nations Foundation has launched a new report, titled “Mobilizing Development,” that looks at the partnership between the UN and The Vodafone Foundation, which was launched in 2005 with a commitment of roughly $28 million to advance mobile technology in healthcare.
“Our work with The Vodafone Foundation has helped lead the way in connecting mobile technology with the global health and humanitarian relief communities,” said Kathy Calvin, CEO of the UN Foundation, in a June 22 press release. “We’ve got the technology in our hands to strengthen health systems and improve disaster response. Partnerships like this one prove what can be done to accelerate innovation that can mean the difference between life and death, health or sickness for millions of people around the world.”
The public-private partnership was created with three goals in mind:
1. To strengthen communications in humanitarian emergencies;
2. To support the development of mobile health programs that tackle critical public health challenges and improve public health systems, decision-making and outcomes; and
3. To promote research and innovation.
Among the by-products of the partnership is the mHealth Alliance, a network formed to bring together public and private groups to advance the use of mobile technology to improve the delivery of health information and services to low- and middle-income countries.
In addition, the partnership has helped pilot mHealth programs in several countries, in conjunction with the World Health Organization and social enterprise DataDyne, and participated in dozens of emergency communications deployments with the World Food Program and Telecoms Sans Frontieres.
“Partnering with the UN, through the UN Foundation, enabled us to take ‘technology for good’ ideas to scale,” said Andrew Dunnett, director of the Vodafone Foundation. “Our investments in the use of technology were designed to support the UN’s global health and humanitarian work, and efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals.”
Written by former Financial Times UN Bureau Chief Mark Turner, the report highlights the partnership’s efforts as an innovation incubator, thought leader and cross-sector convener and points out the shifts in public-private coordination and the use of technology, particularly in the formation of the mHealth Alliance.
The report can be downloaded at www.unfoundation.org/partnership-report-pdf. Parts of the report are also available in an interactive, story-telling format at www.unfoundation.org/tech4dev. An online conversation of the report can be followed on Twitter by using the hashtag #tech4dev.
Eric Wicklund blogs regularly at MobileHealthWatch.com.
