mHealth Compendium, Volume Five

This fifth volume of the mHealth Compendium, produced by the African Strategies for Health Project for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is a collection of 41 case studies submitted by various implementing partners which document a range of mHealth applications being implemented mainly throughout Africa, but also in other regions of the world. The majority of case studies focus on maternal, newborn and child health issues and HIV/AIDS, with some also looking at mHealth used to address tuberculosis, Ebola, and malaria.
As stated in the document, “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.”
The case studies in this compendium have been organised into five programmatic areas where mHealth is being implemented: 1) Behaviour Change Communication; 2) Data Collection; 3) Finance; 4) Logistics; and 5) Service Delivery. 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 a 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.