Hewlett-Packard

For years Hewlett-Packard has been equated with computers and printers. The company is looking to be a player in a new era of mobile health monitoring.

H.P. said on Monday that it was beginning a yearlong clinical trial in Botswana that will equip doctors and nurses with Palm Pre 2 smartphones and an application that is designed to collect information about malaria outbreaks.

Hewlett Packard

The data will be collected through an app that stores pictures, video, audio and GPS information, all of which can be stored and visually monitored in a larger database. The goal of this information is to help officials and doctors deter a huge malaria outbreak as it begins spreading through an area.

“H.P. recognizes the transformative power of applying mobile and cloud technology to advance health care in both developing and developed markets,” said Gabriele Zedlmayer, vice president at H.P. in the office of global social innovation. The technology is being built in a partnership with the mobile health company Positive Innovation for the Next Generation.

H.P. has been running a similar trial in Singapore that is being used to monitor cardiovascular disease. Heart disease accounted for more than 31 percent of deaths in the country in 2009.

In this trial, people are asked to wear a watch-like device that includes a number of sensors capable of tracking a patient’s heart-rate and other vital signs. As the data is collected on the watch, it is sent through an application on a patient’s mobile phone and then transmitted to a doctor. Doctors can access graphs and charts of an individual’s vital signs from any internet-connected device.

It’s only a matter of time before these kind of mobile health monitors become globally commonplace. The vast majority of next-generation smartphones will include heart monitors to keep tabs on your well-being and help doctors determine the early stages of disease and health problems.