Abstract
Mobile health (mHealth) is the provision of health services and information via mobile and wireless technologies. Within Africa the mobile phone has become ubiquitous, making mHealth applications an important tool with which to impact the health of Africans. When applied correctly, mHealth can make real contributions to improved health outcomes. mHealth has the potential to address and overcome (1) disparities in access to health services; (2) inadequacies of the health infrastructure within countries; (3) shortage of human resources for health; (4) high cost of accessing health; and (5) limitations in the availability of financial resources.
This fourth volume of the mHealth compendium contains thirty-one case studies which document a range of mHealth applications being implemented mainly throughout Africa, but also in other regions. In order to help USAID missions access relevant mHealth information, this compendium offers project descriptions, publication references and contact information for making further inquiries. Each two-page case study includes an introduction to the health area or problem; a description of the mHealth intervention highlighted; a description of any important results or evaluation findings; lessons learned; and conclusion. In addition, the second page includes a summary of the geographic coverage, implementation partners, and donors, as well as contact information for the implementing partner and donor. The case studies in this compendium have been organized within five programmatic areas: Behavior Change Communication, Data Collection, Finance, Logistics and Service Delivery.
A number of mHealth tools featured in this fourth volume have great potential for contributing to strengthening health systems and supporting the response to disease outbreaks, such as the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa. These tools include the mSOS disease notification system (pages 34 to 35), CommCare’s case management and reporting system (pages 32 to 33 and 66 to 67), and the IVR mLearning platform for health workers (pages 68 to 69).
Each individual case studies, as well as case studies from the three previous volumes of the mHealth Compendium, will be assessed and assigned a unique project identifier by the World Health Organization’s mobile Technical Evidence Review Group (mTERG) and registered in the mRegistry.org global online repository. The three previous volumes of the mHealth Compendium, which include a total of 85 case studies, can be downloaded at www.africanstrategies4health.org/resources.
