Integration and Application of Mobile Technology into Malaria Control and Intervention: The Case of Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) Operation

Abstract

The dynamic nature of information communication technology especially mobile and wireless technologies have greatly contributed to the improvement of health care and service delivery in developing countries. Countries where limited resources and remote locations with reasonably organized telecom infrastructure are the main reasons for using mobile phones, Therefore, implementing mHealth system in the health sector specially for malaria prevention and control intervention is not only a good choice for a country like Ethiopia with around 46 million mobile users [1], but also with its low cost and universal availability, now a days mobile bases data collection for public health programs become crucial for progress tracking and intervention monitoring and mHealth recognized as an important piece of communication technology in health service delivery. Real-time data collections, summary and reporting are essential for early correction and decision making purpose during indoor residual spraying operation. In Ethiopia there are many mhealth initiatives operated by institutions to supplement their program activities However, the existing mHealth implementations in Ethiopia needs standardization and frame-work to follow. The main objective of this study is to investigate how mHealth help the implementation of IRS and develop mHealth system implementation framework with a prototype mobile based application to aid IRS supervision. A cross sectional study was carried out with purposive sampling research method to select representative districts. The data were then collected by using pre designed questionnaire, observational checklist, government policies and document review. Though there are significant institutional level mHelath projects going on for different health programs via support from local and international non-governmental organizations but there is no mHealth implementation identified working for IRS activity. It is also learnt that these projects are facing many challenges. Amongst them intermittent network coverage, limited technological literacy of implementers and users, dynamic nature of host application platforms and high users turnover are taking the lead. Developing user-friendly system, revising periodically, pilot assessment and having framework are some lessons taken from some of mHealth projects. As many of the mHealth initiatives published shows success in their small scale implementation and the impact addressing the target the researchers largely agreed that mHealth projects have a significant impact in delivering robust healthcare services. And the initiatives should consider the implementation coverage, technological design, and capacity of target users to be monitored and evaluated against their initial target