Slides from the first of six interactive webcasts in the series, In the Know: Social Media for Public Health. Each webcast focuses on a different social media channel and provides basic information, tips, success stories, and discussion on how best to use social media to promote public health and expand outreach initiatives.

(From CDC National Prevention Information Network- CDC NPIN)

New CDC App Turns You Into A Disease Outbreak Detective

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a free app for the iPad called “Solve the Outbreak.”

The app allows users to become an Epidemic Intelligence Service agent and examine a range of variables, based on factual information, in a burgeoning disease outbreak and make decisions much as a CDC decision-maker would. Should you quarantine the city?  Interview people who are sick? Request more results from the lab?

According to the CDC, the app comes with three outbreak scenarios, with more coming soon. Users can post their scores on Twitter and Facebook and challenge friends to do a better job at stemming the epidemic and saving more lives.

The agency says it is using social media to educate the public about diseases and to promote an appreciation for public health work.

You can download the free app from iTunes.

Physicians like mobile health apps for patient health – eClinicalWorks on transformational path

A vast majority – 9 in 10 physicians – like mobile health (mHealth) apps, especially when tied to electronic health records (EHRs). eClinicalWorks surveyed physicians in January 2013, and found physicians bullish on mobile health apps for patient benefit – not just for their own office productivity and workflow.

(From HealthPopuli)

http://healthpopuli.com/2013/02/19/physicians-like-mobile-health-apps-for-patient-health-eclinicalworks-on-transformational-path/

Fighting cancer with cell phones: Innovation to save lives in Africa

(CNN) — Only innovation can reduce illness and poverty in Africa, according to a program that is funding creative approaches to healthcare in developing countries.

More than 50,000 women die each year of cervical cancer in Africa, according to World Health Organization estimates, as more than 80% of the cases are detected in late stages.

In countries such as Tanzania, where nearly 4,500 women die annually from the disease, the problem is exacerbated by an acute shortage of medical experts and a lack of quality screening services, especially in rural areas.

But now a group of Canadian and Tanzanian health innovators have joined forces to apply simple and safe mobile technologies to improve cervical cancer screening and thus potentially reduce mortality rates in the East African country.

The idea is to send teams of two trained non-physician healthcare workers in remote Tanzania to examine women living several hours away from health centers. The nurses, who will be equipped with cervical screening and treatment tools as well as standard smartphones, will take a photograph of the cervix with their phone and send it via SMS to a medical expert in a specialized clinic.

Trained doctors will then be able to review the image immediately and text the diagnosis back to the health worker, as well as give instructions about treatment.

(From CNN - Inside Africa)

ASPR Twitter challenge sparks innovation in tracking local health trends

New web-based app leverages Twitter for real-time early warning of disease outbreaks

Local public health officials can use a free new Web-based application, MappyHealth , to track health concerns in real time in their communities using Twitter, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) announced Thursday (9/13).

“This Is Public Health” Application for iPhone

likelyhealthy:

The new “This Is Public Health” (TIPH) smartphone app.   You can shape the definition of public health by sharing TIPH branded photos with your friends and on your Facebook page.  What is public health?  Take a photo.  Start the conversation.  Follow the link to download your FREE app.