Can Mobile Health Technology Make a Good Village Doctor Great?

The HealthBox-Bangladesh program is being designed to equip Informal Health Providers (IHPs), such as village doctors and community health workers, with engaging interactive software and a "doc in a box" business to promote healthy behaviors, early disease detection, and evidence-based care. HealthBox will initially provide IHPs with software delivered on a tablet PC and point of care tests for Hypertension, Diabetes, and HIV. With this technology IHPs will be able to provide health education, early disease detection, and timely referrals for preventable infectious and chronic diseases. In the future additional tests, health products and algorithmic treatments will be added. Transitions to appropriate care and subsequent efficiency of care will be enhanced through integration of HealthBox summaries into referral Electronic Health Records. Sustainability will be achieved through public-private partnerships. Scale will be achieved through collaboration with networks of IHPs, microcredit networks, and ministries of health globally.