Rural telemedicine for primary healthcare in developing countries

The Biomedical Engineering and Telemedicine Group of the Technical University of Madrid and the nongovernmental organization engineering without frontiers are leading the "Hispano-American Health Link" program, to develop low-cost telecommunication systems and information services specially designed for rural primary healthcare personnel from isolated areas in developing countries. The EHAS program has five lines of action: 1) research on the communication and information needs of rural health personnel in developing countries; 2) R&D on voice and data communication systems designed according to conditions of rural areas; 3) R&D on information services systems suited to the needs of health personnel; 4) deployment of those services and systems through pilot projects; and 5) evaluation of the impact of these telemedicine systems on health services. We examine the results of each line of work, with emphasis on the pilot scheme deployed in 39 rural sites of the Alto Amazonas province, in the center of the Peruvian Amazon region.