Telecommunications bring the potential to improve both the quality of and access to health care in the remotest areas of the developing world. Telemedicine offers solutions for emergency medical assistance, long distance consultation, administration and logistics, supervision and quality assurance and education and training for health-care professionals and providers.

    Telehealth in the Developing World aims to balance the relative lack of published information on successful telehealth solutions in the developing world. It is written for all e-health and telehealth proponents interested in learning about, or contributing to the implementation of, appropriate solutions for 80% of the world's population.

    Topics featured include:

    • Teledermatology in Cambodia
    • Telepediatrics in Chechnya
    • Telepathology in India - using digital cameras and email
    • HealthNet networks in Nepal
    • Medical missions for Children in Mongolia
    • International HIV/AIDS discussion lists
    • The Aga Khan Telehealth Network in Pakistan
    • Access to mobile phones and internet in the Philippines
    • Exchanging X-ray images in Ghana
    • Web-based oncology registries and a virtual oncology hospital in Brazil
    • Surgical training in the developing world
    • The iPath international email network

    BACKGROUND
    Introduction
    Richard Wootton, Kendall Ho, Nivritti G Patil and Richard E Scott

    POLICY
    Bridging the digital divide: Linking health and ICT policy
    Joan Dzenowagis
    Telemedicine in developing countries: Perspectives from the Philippines
    Alvin B Marcelo
    Information technology for primary health care in Brazil
    Elaine Tomasi, Luiz A Facchini, Elaine Thuma Maria FS Maia and Alessander Osorio
    Community-based health workers in developing countries and the role of m-health
    Adesina Iluyemi
    Global e-health policy: From concept to strategy
    Richard E Scott
    Experiences and lessons learnt from telemedicine projects supported by the IDRC
    Laurent Elder and Michael Clarke
    Strategies to promote e-health and telemedicine activities in developing countries
    Sisira Edirippulige, Rohana B Marasinghe, Vajira H W Dissanayake, Palitha Abeykoon and Richard Wootton

    EDUCATIONAL
    Telemedicine in low-resource settings: Experience with a telemedicine service for HIV/AIDS care
    Maria Zolfo, Verena Renggli, Olivier Koole and Lut Lynen
    Medical Missions for Children: A global telemedicine and teaching network
    Philip O Ozuah and Marina Reznik
    Telementoring in India: Experience with endocrine surgery
    Saroj K Mishra, Puthen V Pradeep and Anjali Mishra

    CLINICAL
    Teledermatology in developing countries
    Steven Kaddu, Carrie Kovarik, Gerald Gabler and H Peter Soyer
    Cross-cultural telemedicine via email: Experience in Cambodia and the USA
    Paul Heinzelmann, Rithy Chau, Daniel Liu and Joseph Kvedar
    Telepathology and telecytology in developing countries
    Sangeeta Desai
    Internet-based store-and-forward telemedicine for subspecialty consultations in the Pacifi c region
    C Becket Mahnke, Charles W Callahan and Donald A Person
    Telehealth support for a global network of Italian hospitals
    Gianfranco Costanzo and Paola Monari
    Telemedicine in Nepal
    Mohan R Pradhan
    Telemedical support for surgeons in Ecuador
    Stephen Cone, Edgar J Rodas and Ronald C Merrell
    A low-cost international e-referral network
    Richard Wootton, Pat Swinfen, Roger Swinfen and Peter Brooks
    Telehealth in China: Opportunities and challenges
    Jie Chen and Zhiyuan Xia
    Telemedicine in South Africa
    Maurice Mars
    Telemedicine in sub-Saharan Africa
    Maurice Mars
    Telehealth for mountainous and remote areas of northern Pakistan
    Hameed A Khan and Irfan Hayee
    Teleneurology: Past, present and future
    Usha K Misra and Jayantee Kalita
    Telepaediatric support for a fi eld hospital in Chechnya
    Boris A Kobrinskiy and Vladimir I Petlakh
    Web-based paediatric oncology information and registries: An international perspective
    Andra Nebel de Mello
    E-health in international networks: New opportunities for collaboration
    Shariq Khoja and Azra Naseem

    THE FUTURE

    The future use of telehealth in the developing world
    Richard Wootton

    Biography

    Richard Wootton, Director, Scottish Centre for Telehealth, UK; Honorary Professor, University of Queensland, Australia; Honorary Professor, University of Aberdeen, UK

    Nivritti G Patil, Professor of Surgery and Assistant Dean (Education & Student Affairs), Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China

    Richard E Scott, Associate Professor at the Global e-Health Research and Training Program, Health Innovation and Information Technology Centre (HiiTeC), and Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Canada

    Kendall Ho, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director, eHealth Strategy Office, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada

    Telehealth in the Developing World presents a comprehensive analysis of telemedicine systems and applications for providing education, medical care and consultations worldwide. Chapters covering current applications will be extraordinarily valuable to programs considering establishing a telemedicine framework to provide outside consultation or to develop in-country expertise through health worker training. This book will serve equally well as a resource for students of public health, public policy, and global medicine as it will for practitioners in the field and for programs developing capacity internationally.
    Rebecca S. Kightlinger, DO
    Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
    University of Virginia School of Medicine, June 2009