ABSTRACT
The rapid expansion of mobile networks has revolutionized communications worldwide, yet mobile telephony is also having significant effects across a range of issues including education, politics, entertainment, and finance. This chapter explores one of these effects: the use of mobile technologies in health. Mobility is a fundamentally geographic concept, and thus mobile health (mHealth) is an area that health geographers have and continue to examine. The chapter also explores the recent developments around using two-way SMS (short message service, text messaging) platforms in health research and practice in the Global South, as an increasingly ubiquitous and low-cost data-transfer technology available on all mobile phones. It aims at advancing a contextually sensitive perspective on mHealth in the Global South. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the challenges and future prospects of mHealth, focusing specifically on the need for health geographers to contribute to this global discussion.
