Using mHealth to Improve Timeliness and Quality of Maternal and Newborn Health in the Primary Health Care System in Ethiopia

Nigussie, Zeleke Yimechew; Zemicheal, N.; Tiruneh, Gizachew; Bayou, Yibeltal Tebekaw; Teklu, Getnet Alem; Kibret, Esubalew Sebsibe; Eifler, Kristin; Hodsdon, Sarah; Altaye, Dessalew Emaway; Rosenblum, Leona; Getu, Yeshiwork Aklilu; Nebi, Zinar; Lemango, Ephrem Tekle; Etissa, Eyob Kebede; Betemariam, Wuleta

doi:10.9745/ghsp-d-20-00685

Cited by 15 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Product design challenges address the issues faced by users of the mHealth system and recommendation for future implementations of comparable mHealth systems. These issues ranged from application crashes, data retrieval restrictions, screen freezing leading to login restrictions, submission errors, and improper integration with the existing electronic health information system of the facility ( 33 – 36 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The challenge of low digital literacy among healthcare workers was mediated through adequate training of staff including onsite mentorship, provision of equipment and infrastructure ( 17 , 20 , 23 , 25 , 33 , 37 – 40 ). Routine technical support troubleshooting and fixing both software related problems (related to applications) and hardware related problems (related to phones and sim cards) were provided by the local research team including installing the phone system applications, protocol forms and dealing with any queries ( 12 , 13 , 17 , 21 , 27 , 41 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These health workers were able to address most of the common problems using the troubleshooting guide and with remote support from the regional and central teams. For instance, in Ethiopia the mHealth technology to support service provision and strengthen linkages within the primary health care units (PHCUs) provided ad hoc and routine onsite support and supervision to end-users ( 33 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some studies, it was reported that there were insurgent attacks and cases of phone theft. A research study to improve delivery, timeliness and quality of maternal and child health services by leveraging existing mHealth technology to support service provision reported that from a total of 308 smartphones distributed to mHealth users, 7(3%) tablets were reportedly lost and 86(28%) were damaged within the first year of implementation (8) ( 33 ). To ensure security, a military convoy accompanied the health workers on field trips.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To thrive, the applications were designed in ways that were intuitive and easy to understand. Oftentimes, this involved adapting the details of already existing and approved programs or paper-based forms ( 33 , 51 , 56 , 58 , 65 ). For example, cStock, an mHealth logistics tool in Malawi, integrated mobile-based tools with existing health management systems ( 18 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Owoyemi¹,

Osuchukwu

Azubuike

et al. 2022

Front. Digit. Health

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The agenda for Universal Health Coverage has driven the exploration of various innovative approaches to expanding health services to the general population. As more African countries have adopted digital health tools as part of the strategic approach to expanding health services, there is a need for defining a standard framework for implementation across board. Therefore, there is a need to review and employ an evidence-based approach to inform managing challenges, adopting best approaches, and implement informed recommendations. We reviewed a variety of digital health tools applied to different health conditions in primary care settings and highlighted the challenges faced, approaches that worked and relevant recommendations. These include limited coverage and network connectivity, lack of technological competence, lack of power supply, limited mobile phone usage and application design challenges. Despite these challenges, this review suggests that mHealth solutions could attain effective usage when healthcare workers receive adequate onsite training, deploying applications designed in an intuitive and easy to understand approach in a manner that fits into the users existing workflows, and involvement of the stakeholders at all levels in the design, planning, and implementation stages of the interventions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Owoyemi¹,

Osuchukwu

Azubuike

et al. 2022

Front. Digit. Health

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Persuasive System Design Features for Mobile Mental Health Applications

Guracho,

Thomas,

Almutairi

et al. 2024

Persuasive Technology

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Pregnant women’s perceptions of antenatal care and utilisation of digital health tools in Magu District, Tanzania: a qualitative study

van Pelt,

van der Pijl,

A.C. Ruiter

et al. 2023

Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters

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Antenatal care is essential to promote maternal health. Prior research has focused on barriers women face to attending antenatal care, and improving quality of care is seen as a precondition for better attendance. Digital health tools are seen as a promising instrument to increase the quality of healthcare. It is less clear to what extent the use of digital health tools in low- and middle-income counties would be perceived as beneficial by end-users. The aim of this research was to explore women’s experiences with antenatal care, and whether digital health tools would change their perceptions of quality of care. This qualitative research utilised an interpretative phenomenological approach on data from semi-structured in-depth interviews collected in 2016 with 19 randomly selected pregnant women from six different dispensaries in Magu District. Findings showed that pregnant women are motivated to attend antenatal care and are grateful for the services received. However, they also articulated a need for improvements in antenatal care services such as the availability of diagnostic tests and more interactions with healthcare workers. Participants indicated that a digital health tool could help in storing patient files and improving communication with health workers. Our results indicate that pregnant women are positive about the use of digital health tools during antenatal care but that the implementation of such a tool should be implemented in parallel to structural service delivery improvements, such as testing availability.

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Using mHealth to Improve Timeliness and Quality of Maternal and Newborn Health in the Primary Health Care System in Ethiopia

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Digital Solutions for Community and Primary Health Workers: Lessons From Implementations in Africa

Persuasive System Design Features for Mobile Mental Health Applications

Pregnant women’s perceptions of antenatal care and utilisation of digital health tools in Magu District, Tanzania: a qualitative study

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