Qtel launches mobile health services across MENA, Asian regions

on Wednesday launched a strategic partnership with the Mobile Health Company to offer mHealth mobile health services across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

mHealth solutions use mobile phone technology to deliver lifestyle guidance and continuous updates through customers handsets.


will be among the first companies in the region to deploy these cutting-edge solutions and is emphasising wellness enhancement and prioritising illnesses that have an endemic impact across the region.

The partnership with The Mobile Health Company will educate customers, giving them advice and information on diet and exercise.

With expert guidance, the service will enable people to make informed choices regarding their lifestyle, empowering them to take control of their own health, and that of their families.

The interactive range of services will provide instantaneous health information and interpretations around diet, obesity, diabetes, and personal health via mobile phones. They will also enable consultation via private mHealth accounts and deliver a range of special healthcare applications.

Utilising a mass population approach, the mHealth service will also be targeting customers at rural and remote communities with limited access to conventional health services.

Dr Nasser Marafih, Group CEO of Qtel said: Mobile health technology provides us with the opportunity to deliver personalised, highly-relevant health content and applications in partnership with health professionals and experts, directly to the subscribers. Our partnership with the Mobile Health Company will offer vital and immediate information for people across the Middle East, and is a further step in our quest for leadership in the field of innovation.

Obesity and diabetes are chronic conditions that have serious consequences for sufferers, and the World Health Organisation predicts that the number of diabetes patients in the MENA region will reach 51.7 million by 2030.

As well as the direct health impact, these conditions can lead to other diseases such as blindness, renal failure, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The costs of caring for these illnesses, and the economic impact of losing productive people at an early age, have a further knock-on effect on society. Dr Hamad M Al Omar MBA, MD, of the Mobile Health Company said: Health is an important issue to everyone and being able to access and share information provides an important range of benefits for people.

This new partnership with the Qtel GroupQtel Group

will help people to stay healthy and empower patients better manage their conditions, and also have a preventative effect to reduce the spread of obesity and diabetes.