The mHealth Alliance and TechChange announced Friday that registration has opened for their flagship online course, "Mobile Phones for Public Health,” which will run from June 3-28, 2013.

"As the field of mobile health (mHealth) continues to expand, this course provides a valuable learning and networking experience for people interested and working in mHealth throughout the world," said mHealth Alliance officials in a news release.

“The first time we offered this course it was a significant success, reaching capacity at 100 participants from 35 countries, spanning the medical field, international development and government agencies,” said Nick Martin, co-founder and president of TechChange. “We have since heard from dozens of people who couldn’t participate in the first round and wanted another chance. We are excited to bring these people not only a second opportunity to enroll, but an even better, more informative and engaging course on mobile health.”

According to the two groups, the expanded course will include a greater emphasis on building technical skills and working with telecommunications companies, as well as governments. It will also provide opportunities to address the policy implications of mHealth, in addition to topics from the original course such as SMS (text message) communication programs, smartphone applications and health information systems for data collection and management. The course will use interactive exercises, live demonstrations and multimedia tutorials to engage participants, provide training in the latest tools, and connect students with experts and fellow practitioners.

“The success of last year’s course and the demand to offer it again provide a great indication of the growing enthusiasm surrounding mHealth,” said Patricia Mechael, executive director of the mHealth Alliance. “The Alliance’s role is to provide information that enables informed decision-making, so that proven approaches and lessons learned can be applied systematically to mHealth projects. I encourage those who are interested in mHealth to take advantage of the opportunity this course offers to learn from some of the field’s leading experts and to build their own knowledge and experience.”