Mobile healthcare (mHealth), an emerging sector that provides healthcare services by leveraging mobile technologies, has the potential to be worth $20 billion in the US alone, McKinsey said. The survey results are being presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 18 February 2010.
A large proportion of the nearly four billion people using mobile phones struggle to gain access to good quality and affordable healthcare, both in emerging markets and more developed societies. Mobile healthcare as a sector aims to bridge this divide, by utilising mobile phone technologies to deliver healthcare (voice, SMS, images, video, connected devices).
To test global consumer demand for mobile healthcare services, McKinsey conducted a global market research survey of 3,000 consumers in six countries (500 each in Brazil, USA, Germany, South Africa, India and China).