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Studies illustrate global development efforts need to address the ability of people to achieve better livelihoods using information and communication technologies. The challenge remains one of understanding what development efforts lead to better livelihoods. As the relationship between mobile phones and health remains elusive, this paper investigates health wellbeing in the light of increasing mobile phone penetration. A simple cluster analysis of the data used on mobile phone penetration and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Health index revealed five clusters. In order to understand the effects on human development, the relationship between these variables and the Human Development Index (HDI) was carried out. The contribution of this paper is in uncovering a positive significant correlation between both mobile phone penetration and the health index as well as both variables and the HDI. This has implications for the use of mobile phones for the provision of healthcare and human development

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Aug 10th, 12:00 AM

Role of Mobile Phone Penetration and Health Index in Human Development

Studies illustrate global development efforts need to address the ability of people to achieve better livelihoods using information and communication technologies. The challenge remains one of understanding what development efforts lead to better livelihoods. As the relationship between mobile phones and health remains elusive, this paper investigates health wellbeing in the light of increasing mobile phone penetration. A simple cluster analysis of the data used on mobile phone penetration and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Health index revealed five clusters. In order to understand the effects on human development, the relationship between these variables and the Human Development Index (HDI) was carried out. The contribution of this paper is in uncovering a positive significant correlation between both mobile phone penetration and the health index as well as both variables and the HDI. This has implications for the use of mobile phones for the provision of healthcare and human development