Mobile apps and public health, injury control, emergency preparedness and population safety in healthy communities that promote healthy minds and bodies

Background/Purpose: The rate of smartphone adoption is increasing, even among lower-income groups/other population segments that public health workers find hard to reach. Google, the online search giant, announced by mid-June that there were now 550,000 Android smartphones activated each day; with activations growing at a rate of 4.4% each week. There is a concomitant explosive increase in smartphone data consumption/usage. Reports indicate that on average smartphone users downloaded 20 applications (apps) comprised mostly of games. Public health specialists can carve out their own niche, by joining the apps bandwagon. The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a review of mobile apps availability for public health, injury control, emergency preparedness and population safety. Methods: A comprehensive database search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and current trade publications related to mobile application development /release was carried out for 2011 using Boolean search criteria and key words such as “public health, injury control, emergency preparedness or population safety apps.” Results/Outcomes: Results indicated that of the thousands of health apps available, majority of the apps only have relevance for clinical medicine but fewer apps had direct relevance for public health, injury control, emergency preparedness and population safety. An abiding challenge is how to determine the effectiveness of mobile apps. Conclusions: To the extent that mobile apps are developed for public health usage (encompassing primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention), and not only for medical-related/clinician usage; then these healthy communities have one more implement in their toolkit to promote healthy minds and bodies.