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Future looks bright for mHealth in Brazil

A new report suggests that health apps and mobile health devices will surge in popularity in Brazil in 2015, surpassing even the US.

According to a report this week in Mobihealthnews, PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that by 2015, the Brazilian health app market will reach $46.6 million. PwC also expects the US to trail other developing countries such as South Africa and India.

GSMA, a global association for mobile operators, meanwhile, says 43.9 million additional patients could be treated with mobile health technology in 2017 in Brazil and Mexico, if steps are taken to drive adoption, Mobihealthnews reports.

If Brazil and Mexico could overcome their challenges, such as lack of a regulatory framework (not unlike the US) and a lack of standardization and interoperability, mobile health could lead to billions of dollars in healthcare savings in both countries -- $14.1 billion in Brazil and $3.8 billion in Mexico by 2017. In addition, mHealth could boost the job market by creating 200,000 new jobs across both countries, the report stated.

A report from research firm Research2Guidance released last week found that for health and fitness apps in Brazil, Android apps are 17 times more popular than Apple apps.

"The Brazilian mHealth app market seems to offer higher chances for local apps to reach the top 10 than other Western app markets," the Research2Guidance report said. "However, global mHealth players like Runtastic also rank amongst the top 10 in Brazil with some of their apps."

Source: http://mobihealthnews.com/22654/brazil-an-up-and-coming-mobile-health-market/


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