Market Sizing Approaches

by Karen Coppock

The mHealth Alliance's most recent eNewsletter - the mPulse - highlighted a Vital Wave Consulting report: Sizing the Business Potential of mHealth in the Global South

From the eNewsletter:

Sustainable business strategies are essential to the successful scaling of mHealth projects everywhere, yet only a handful of companies have begun making significant investments in mHealth. A report written by Vital Wave Consulting, which has worked closely with the mHealth Alliance, identifies critical success factors for stimulating cross-sector collaboration and proposes three methodological approaches to sizing the mHealth market.

Homing in on three countries – South Africa, Turkey and Vietnam – the report samples healthcare data and expenditures to identify where there is information missing that is necessary to assess the size of the mHealth market. Recognizing that the early stages of mHealth present challenges for collecting primary data, the report stresses the importance of including input from health experts in the developing world and identifies available secondary data.

Suggested methodologies for building effective market sizing entail top-down and bottom-up approaches, including: (1) top-down estimates from health budgets with needs-based segmentation; (2) top-down analyses from health ICT or eHealth budgets; and (3) bottom-up calculations from health care program cost and the volume of potential data. A fourth section compares the three methodologies and the quality of their results.

Developed for professionals across sectors and industries, the report helps to lay the groundwork for building the multi-sector engagement necessary to deliver on the promise of mHealth to improve health care delivery in countries facing even the gravest public health challenges.

Download and read the full report at www.mhealthalliance.org under “Resources”.