Artikel
Mhealth tools for community-based infectious disease surveillance in Africa: A scoping review
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Autoren
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Fortress Yayra Aku
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; FN Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC)
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Wilm Quentin
- Department of Healthcare Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC)
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Linda Batsa Debrah
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC)
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Daniel Opoku
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC); Department of Healthcare Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Jonathan Mawutor Gmanyami
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC); Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana
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Achim Hoerauf
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology (IMMIP), University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC)
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Alexander Yaw Debrah
- Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC)
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John Humphrey Amuasi
- School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; German West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC); Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana; Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
| Veröffentlicht: | 28. November 2023 |
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Gliederung
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Research question: What has been written about the use of mhealth tools for infectious disease surveillance among community-based surveillance volunteers in Africa?
Methods: The scoping review protocol was registered in OSF registries (https://osf.io/w7mty). We followed a mixed-methods approach in line with the framework of Arksey and O’Malley amended by Levac et al. and the Joanna Briggs Institute. We searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Google and websites of relevant organizations for peer-reviewed and grey literature. Search terms included a range of synonyms for the three concepts of (1) mhealth, (2) CHW and (3) Africa. Reports were included if they reported on mHealth tools used by CHW for infectious disease surveillance in Africa.
Results: We identified 2,496 titles during our search but only 26 met our inclusion criteria. Nineteen mhealth tools were identified with the greater number, (four) implemented in Kenya and Rwanda each, followed by Uganda (three). Studies focused on one or more diseases or symptoms such as: Acute Flaccid Paralysis, Lymphatic Filariasis, COVID-19, meningitis, measles, and brucellosis. Interventions were mostly at the feasibility testing phase and relied on CHW sending text messages, photographs or interactive voice responses via the mhealth tool. Users’ perspective of mhealth tools included: improved surveillance, better linkage with the community and greater efficiency.
Discussion: We found a moderate number of mhealth tools used by CHWs for infectious disease surveillance in Africa, with the highest number implemented in East Africa. Tools mostly focused on epidemic-prone and neglected tropical diseases and linked CHW with their supervisors and communities. Though most tools were at the early stage of implementation, users gave a good perspective of the tools. Results indicate that mhealth holds the potential for strengthening community-based surveillance in Africa.
