Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser (pictured), the president of the 66th UN general assembly, urged political leaders in the developing world to “promote the application of digital technologies in health”. Al-Nasser gave two examples of how the mobile phone can deliver health information to users: a woman in sub-Saharan Africa receiving pregnancy advice or a young person managing diabetes. Only five years ago, such examples were unimaginable, he said.

Al-Nasser’s remarks, which were reported by the UN’s own news service, were made during the UN’s high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), only the second ever such meeting to be focused on disease. NCDs include cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory illness and diabetes. They have spread alarmingly in recent years in the developing world.  Mobile technology is viewed as a critical means to raise awareness among users of NCDs. A campaign whose backers include Nokia has just announced an SMS-based campaign that aims to reach one million users in India over the next two years. The campaign aims to raise awareness about diabetes.