Vision: mobile eHealth learning and intervention platform

Face-to-face health educational and intervention programs are helpful in addressing mental and physical illness challenges in focused groups. However, these programs are expensive, resource-intensive and struggle with scalability and reachability, leading to limited take-up and short-term impact. Digital Health Intervention (DHI) programs incorporate the use of technology - mobile, web, wearables, virtual and augmented reality - to address these limitations while being more cost-effective. DHIs have shown major success in improving physical and mental health outcomes for the general public as well as reducing adverse outcomes or high-risk groups. However, it is still very challenging and expensive to design and run high quality mobile-based DHI programs, in part due to the lack of technical skills of researchers in this field. Our proposed mobile eHealth Learning and Intervention Platform (eHeLP) aims to address these challenges with a novel approach that allows health researchers to focus on their studies, and participants to have access to multiple health programs that meet their needs. The platform caters for identified stakeholders in the DHI field and encourages the development of a new health-tech industry. We present our vision eHeLP, why this idea is worth further research, risks we perceive, and next steps.