Applying a Health Systems Framework to Assess the Challenges of Mhealth in Uganda. Case Study: the Community Health Management System ’ Ministry of Health Uganda

Abstract

Mobile phone technologies since the Millennium are increasingly being adopted to strengthen service delivery. In the developing context, one of the areas countries are venturing in is the health sector service delivery.

One of the biggest challenges has been to plan for this sector where consequences can be fatal including losing lives. With the mobile phone technology; there is been a provision to adopt the technology in data collection and management plus of recent clinical diagnosis.

The adoption and implementation of these technologies is known as mHealth falling under electronic health (eHealth).

In this study, we discuss these mHealth technologies and how countries within the developing context have adopted them. We focus on the challenges that the mobile interventions have faced key of them being stuck in “Pilotisis.” We note with concern that most of these initiatives are piloted for a short period of time for example one year and then abandoned.

We adopt a framework from (Leon et al. 2012) developed for mHealth interventions for community based services in South Africa and apply it to validate the challenges affecting implementation of mHealth at scale in Uganda.

We use the qualitative study in methodology with case study and ethnography as strategies. We use the case of the Community Health Management System implemented by the Ministry of Health, Uganda with funding support from UNICEF Uganda. The system is also implemented by Moyo District local government in four sub counties. 2014 – M142 2008 Applying a health systems framework to assess the challenges of mHealth in Uganda xii

We collect data and information from the above stakeholders. We then identify the results with relevant relationships which we open code, to present the validation of challenges in the concluding chapters.

This study was conducted so as to understand how sustainable solutions can be identified for the challenges affecting mHealth at scale. After data collection, we make our recommendations as the contribution to the sustainable solutions.

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