David Doherty over at the 3G Doctor blog has an extensive round-up on mHealth news, launches and product demos from the Mobile World Congress show that took place in Barcelona last month. Key finding: mHealth solutions for the developing markets dominated the event's mHealth buzz (probably because of the mHealth Alliance announcement), while developed market solutions took a backseat. Doherty had a number of other insights:

> "Whilst there was a lot of consensus that mHealth is a huge opportunity just waiting to happen - where are all the entrepreneurial Healthcare professionals who are going to make this happen? If anything the medical industry had less presence this year than in 2008 when there was a medical technology provider (Medical Intelligence) exhibiting and working paramedics were talking about their experiences at the conference." This is disappointing to hear but it may be more of a reflection on travel budgets than the mHealth industry.

> "In 2009 the talk about mHealth seemed to have moved from the developed to the developing world," Doherty writes. "Nick Hunn [writes] in his excellent blog, 'The developing world is not alone in having people who cannot afford healthcare. If we open our eyes we'll find them living in every country in the world.'"

> Doherty then goes on to explain the developing market focus "jars" him a little because there is a strong argument "against aiding health projects in the developing world that are unproven and potentially unsustainable because of the further fragmentation in care that they can cause (eg. when donations run out patients may be worse off than if their naturally developing health systems hadn't been interfered with in the first place) but from conversations I came away with the distinct impression that the mobile industry is keen to encourage mHealth experimentation (sometimes with untested and unlicensed services) to encourage adoption by the worlds most economically disadvantaged, vulnerable and unrepresented."

While sprawling, the post is a must-read for anyone interested in keeping up with the latest in mHealth. Doherty also quickly summarizes products on display from companies including NTT DoCoMo, Alcatel-Lucent, CardioNet, Giant Electronics, Oberthur, CuteCircuit, Qualcomm and more. Plenty of pictures, too. Check it out.