Mobile health (mHealth) is a branch of electronic health (eHealth) that delivers revolutionized healthcare service in which communication devices are used for the remote monitoring of patients suffering from acute and chronic diseases. mHealth majorly involves the use of mobile and wireless technologies, which are deployed in monitoring and treatment of several diseases. Rising prevalence of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and other diseases has created an impending need of technologically advanced and less time consuming methods for prevention and treatment of these diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were an estimated 3.1 million deaths due to COPD in 2012, which accounted for around 5.6% of all deaths worldwide. Further, nearly 6.7 million deaths occurred due to stroke in 2012, which represented around 11.9% of all deaths across the globe. The continued introduction of mobile phone based medical devices such as cardiac monitors, respiratory monitors and blood glucose monitors has addressed the need of regular monitoring and treatment of diseases in the market.
The global mHealth market was valued $10.5 billion in 2014 growing at a CAGR of 33.5% from 2015 to 2020, primarily driven by the increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, growing government initiatives and rising adoption of smart phones across the globe. Currently, the market is experiencing a resurgence due to the increased mobile penetration, which is more than 100% in developed markets and the similar trends in developing markets such as Asia-Pacific and Africa. Despite the mentioned benefits, low accuracy and technology infancy related to mHealth devices especially in developing and under-developed regions are the major factors limiting the growth of mHealth market.
The global mHealth market is segmented into devices, services, application, stakeholders and...