Over 4.5 billion people in the world use mobile phones. By the end of 2018, about 10% lived in Sub-Saharian Africa, with 456 million unique mobile phone subscribers. (The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2019, GSMA Report). On one side, mobile technology is moving very fast and spreading everywhere; on the other side, a great part of the Sub-Saharian population has still limited access to basic services, such as those related to healthcare. Indicators such as infant mortality rate, show that in Sub-Saharian Africa between 40 and 70 children every 1000 births die before reaching the first year of age. Although we have seen significant improvements in the last decades, we still have a lot of challenges to face and solve.
This striking contrast makes us wonder if it still makes sense to continue investing and talking about technology in areas where some basic services are still non-existent or very limited. However, could technological solutions be a tool to also satisfy basic needs? If so, in which way?
During this course, we will try to answer those questions, exploring several examples of mhealth applications providing support to patients, physicians and community health workers with the objective of granting access to care, diagnosis, treatment and information also in contexts where this would not be possible. We will show several case studies and examples of applications, particularly used in developing countries. We will also present and demo some of the most commonly used tools for data collection and management in the healthcare sector and in low resource settings.
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N.B. In this time of COVID-19 Emergency, we have added a SPECIAL LESSON on exploring mhealth solutions that are currently used during this big and current emergency.
At the end of the course participants will have acquired the following skills:
The course is open to humanitarian professionals or any person interested in the use and application of mobile technology to healthcare services in developing contexts.
No specific skills are required but familiarity with digital tools and data collection tools might be an advantage.
Module 1 - Introduction to mhealth
Module 1: Introduction to mhealth and its applications in health surveys and point of care
The module will provide a general overview of health systems and health information systems. It will introduce e-health and m-health and present the use of mhealth for health surveys/data collection and for Point of Care support.
→ Test to access Module 2
Module 2 - Mhealth applications and CommCare Demo
Module 2: Mhealth applications and CommCare Demo
The module will present the use of mhealth in the logistics sector related to healthcare services as well as the use of mhealth to support Patient’s treatment. CommCare tool will be presented in relation to data collection or case management support.
→ Test to access Module 3
Module 3 - Mhealth applications and Magpi Demo
Module 3: Mhealth applications and Magpi Demo
The module will describe the use of mhealth for education and training purposes, with examples and case studies. A second tool for data collection and management – Magpi – will be presented in relation to health surveys and data collection.
→ Test to access Module 4
Module 4 - Mhealth applications, Challenges and Future
Module 4: Mhealth applications, Challenges and Future
The module will present the use of mhealth for remote monitoring and disease tracking activities. Finally, an overview of the main challenges and future possibilities for mhealth applied to developing countries will be described.
→ Final test
Special lesson - Covid-19 and mHealth solutions
Special lesson: Covid-19 and mHealth solutions
In this time of COVID-19 Emergency, we have added a special lesson on exploring mhealth solutions that are currently used during this big and current emergency.
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