mHealth Compendium, Volume One

This first volume of the mHealth compendium, published by the African Strategies for Health Project, contains thirty-five case studies which document a range of mHealth applications being implemented throughout Africa and, in some exceptional cases, in other regions.

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.

In order to help U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) missions access relevant mHealth information, this compendium offers project descriptions, publication references and contact information for making further inquiries. The case studies in this compendium have been organised within five programmatic areas: Behavior Change Communication, Data Collection, Finance, Logistics, and 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 conclusion. In addition, the first page of each case study includes a summary of the geographic coverage, implementation partners, and donors, as well as contact information for the implementing partner and donor.