Medic Mobile recently unveiled a SIM mobile application for healthcare at the Mobile Health Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. SIM apps are more accessible to users of a wide variety of mobile devices; they run on 80 percent of the world's mobile phones, including, importantly, inexpensive mobile phones that are popular in developing countries. Africa currently has 50 percent mobile users, but that number expected to grow to 100 percent over the next few years.

Medic Mobile's first SIM app, called Kuvela, was developed with help from Maternal Health Task Force and will be used by Population Services International (PSI), a global health organization that offers programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV, reproductive health and non-communicable disease. PSI said it will use the app to "monitor the quality of [its] program across multiple districts."

The Kuvela SIM app provides an improvement over SMS-based text reminders, by offering a menu-based interface and automatic OTA (over the air) updating, according to Medic Mobile.

Medic Mobile CEO Josh Nesbit views the release as an important step for mobile healthcare in developing markets. “People get excited about the iPhone apps because of profit potential. We’re excited about designing SIM applications because of the impact potential,” said Nesbit in the press release. “I can imagine all eight million global community health workers utilizing SIM applications to support their work and improve the lives of their patients.”

Medic Mobile has plans to build more SIM applications that will allow patients to schedule appointments, access remote consultations, and alert the nearest clinic during medical emergencies.

Check out the full post at MedicMobile's blog.