Now that the GSMA/mHealth Alliance Mobile Health Summit in Cape Town is finished, it’s time to start looking forward to December’s mHealth Summit in Washington, DC.   

The mHealth Summit recently announced its choice of Global Health as a cross-cutting track. This is great news—not only because of the rapid growth of mobile phone use in developing countries and the corresponding use in health but also because of the surge in interest in the field of mHealth. Witness the rise in the membership of the mHealth Working Group – from 20 in 2009 to 700+ in 2012 (www.mhealthworkingroup.org).

Per the mHealth Summit website, the cross-cutting track of Global Health will focus on mHealth in low- and middle-income countries. The five topic tracks for abstracts are:

• Health and Health Care Delivery
• Technology
• Business
• Policy
• Research

Note that abstracts cannot be submitted under the Global Health topic. Rather, a global health perspective will be appreciated in abstracts submitted under the topic tracks. You have until June 29 to submit your abstracts.

Need some inspiration, or a frame of reference? Try these:

• Videos and presentations from the 2011 mHealth Summit
• Interviews with Summit participants, including Dr. Patricia Mechael of the mHealth Alliance and Dr. Alain Labrique, whose mCare project was a Top 11 in 2011 Innovators Challenge winner.