493
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

A systematic review of the factors that hinder the scale up of mobile health technologies in antenatal care programmes in sub-Saharan Africa

&

References

  • Abejirinde, I. O. R., Renate Douwes, Azucena Bardají, Rudolf Abugnaba-Abanga, Marjolein Zweekhorst, Jos van Roosmalen, and Vincent De Brouwere. 2018. “Pregnant Women’s Experiences with an Integrated Diagnostic and Decision Support Device for Antenatal Care in Ghana.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 18 (1): 20–29.
  • Ahmed, A. G., Marie-Pierre Gagnon, Louise Hamelin-Brabant, Gisele Irène Claudine Mbemba, and Hassane Alami. 2017. “A Mixed Methods Systematic Review of Success Factors of mHealth and Telehealth for Maternal Health in Sub-Saharan Africa.” mHealth 3: 22–30.
  • Al Dahdah, M., Annabel Desgrées Du Loû, and Cécile Méadel. 2015. “Mobile Health and Maternal Care: A Winning Combination for Healthcare in the Developing World?” Health Policy and Technology 4 (3): 225–231.
  • Amoakoh-Coleman, M., Alexander Berend-Jan Borgstein, Stephanie F. V. Sondaal, Diederick E. Grobbee, Andrea Solnes Miltenburg, Mirjam Verwijs, Evelyn K. Ansah, Joyce L. Browne, and Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch. 2016. “Effectiveness of mHealth Interventions Targeting Health Care Workers to Improve Pregnancy Outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 18 (8): 22–36.
  • Aranda-Jan, B., N. Mohutsiwa-Dibe, and S. Loukanova. 2014. “Systematic Review on What Works, What Does Not Work and Why of Implementation of Mobile Health (mHealth) Projects in Africa.” BMC Public Health 14 (1): 188–201.
  • Ataguba, J. E. O., and U. Uthman. 2018. “A Reassessment of Global Antenatal Care Coverage for Improving Maternal Health Using Sub-Saharan Africa as a Case Study.” PLOS ONE 13 (10): 20–28.
  • Atnafu, A. K., and C. H. Herbest. 2017. “The Role of mHealth Intervention on Maternal and Child Health Service Delivery: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Field Trial in Rural Ethiopia.” Mhealth 3: 39–50.
  • Battle, J. D., Leonie Farrow, Jalia Tibaijuka, and Marc Mitchell. 2015. “mHealth for Safer Deliveries: A Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Effect of an Integrated Mobile Health Intervention on Maternal Care Utilization.” Healthcare 3 (4): 180–184.
  • Bigna, J. J., Jean Jacques Noubiap, Claudia S. Plottel, Charles Kouanfack, and Sinata Koulla-Shiro. 2014. “Barriers to the Implementation of Mobile Phone Reminders in Pediatric HIV Care: A Pre-Trial Analysis of the Cameroonian MORE CARE Study.” BMC Health Services Research 14: 52–60.
  • Black, A. D., Josip Car, Claudia Pagliari, Chantelle Anandan, Kathrin Cresswell, Tomislav Bokun, Brian McKinstry, Rob Procter, Azeem Majeed, and Aziz Sheikh. 2011. “The Impact of eHealth on the Quality and Safety of Health Care: A Systematic Overview.” PLoS Medicine 8 (4): 13–22.
  • Blaya, J., H. S. Fraser, and B. Holt. 2010. “E-Health Technologies Show Promise in Developing Countries.” Health Aff (Millwood) 29 (1): 14–23.
  • Brinkel, J., Alexander Krämer, Ralf Krumkamp, Jürgen May, and Julius Fobil. 2014. “Mobile Phone-Based mHealth Approaches for Public Health Surveillance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 11 (11): 11559–11582.
  • Bull, S., D. S. Thomas, E. C. Nyanza, and S. E. Ngallaba. 2018. “Tanzania Health Information Technology (T-HIT) System: Pilot Test of a Tablet Based System to Improve Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV.” JMIR MHealth and UHealth 6 (1): 16–24.
  • Chang, L. W., Joseph Kagaayi, Hannah Arem, Gertrude Nakigozi, Victor Ssempijja, David Serwadda, Thomas C. Quinn, Ronald H. Gray, Robert C. Bollinger, and Steven J. Reynolds. 2011. “Impact of a mHealth Intervention for Peer Health Workers on Aids Care in Rural Uganda: A Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Cluster-Randomized Trial.” AIDS and Behavior 15 (8): 1776–1784.
  • Clouse, K., Sheree R. Schwartz, Annelies Van Rie, Jean Bassett, Sten H. Vermund, and Audrey E. Pettifor. 2015. “High Mobile Phone Ownership, but Low Internet and Email Usage Among Pregnant, HIV-Infected Women Attending Antenatal Care in Johannesburg.” Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 21 (2): 104–107.
  • Drake, A. L., Jennifer A. Unger, Keshet Ronen, Daniel Matemo, Trevor Perrier, Brian DeRenzi, Barbra A. Richardson, John Kinuthia, and Grace John-Stewart. 2017. “Evaluation of mHealth Strategies to Optimize Adherence and Efficacy of Option B+ Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission: Rationale, Design and Methods of a 3-Armed Randomized Controlled Trial.” Contemporary Clinical Trials 57: 44–50.
  • Duclos, V., Maurice Yé, Kagoné Moubassira, Hamidou Sanou, N. Hélène Sawadogo, Gilles Bibeau, and Ali Sié. 2017. “Situating Mobile Health: A Qualitative Study of mHealth Expectatio in the Rural Health District of Nouna, Burkina Faso.” Health Research Policy and Systems 15 (Suppl 1): 47.
  • Fairbanks, J. K., Kristin Beima-Sofie, Pamela Akinyi, Daniel Matemo, Jennifer A. Unger, John Kinuthia, Gabrielle O'Malley, Alison L. Drake, Grace John-Stewart, and Keshet Ronen. 2018. “You Will Know That Despite Being HIV Positive You Are Not Alone: Qualitative Study to Inform Content of a Text Messaging Intervention to Improve Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission.” JMIR MHealth and UHealth 6 (7): 10–22.
  • Feroz, A., Shagufta Perveen, and Wafa Aftab. 2017. “Role of mHealth Applications for Improving Antenatal and Postnatal Care in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Systematic Review.” BMC Health Services Research 17 (1): 70–84.
  • Haberer, J. E., Julius Kiwanuka, Denis Nansera, Ira B. Wilson, and David R. Bangsberg. 2010. “Challenges in Using Mobile Phones for Collection of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Data in a Resource-Limited Setting.” AIDS and Behavior 14 (6): 1294–1301.
  • Haskew, J., Gunnar Go, Kaori Saito, Kenrick Turner, George Odhiambo, Annah Wamae, Shahnaaz Sharif, and Tomohiko Sugishita. 2015. “Implementation of a Cloud-Based Electronic Medical Record for Maternal and Child Health in Rural Kenya.” International Journal of Medical Informatics 84 (5): 349–354.
  • Ilozumba, O., Ibukun-Oluwa Omolade Abejirinde, Marjolein Dieleman, Azucena Bardají, Jacqueline E. W. Broerse, and Sara Van Belle. 2018. “Targeting Strategies of mHealth Interventions for Maternal Health in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review Protocol.” BMJ Open 8 (2): 22–31.
  • Jack, C. L., and M. Mars. 2014. “Ethical Considerations of Mobile Phone Use by Patients in Kwazulu-Natal: Obstacles for mHealth?” Medical Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 6 (1): 1–7.
  • Jareethum, R. V., V. Titapant, C. Tienthai, S. Viboonchart, P. Chuenwattana, and J. Chatchainoppakhun. 2008. “Satisfaction of Healthy Pregnant Women Receiving Short Message Service Via Mobile Phone for Prenatal Support: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 91 (4): 458–463.
  • John-Stewart, G. 2018. “eHealth and Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV.” Current HIV/AIDS Reports 11 (2): 13–21.
  • Johnson, J. 2005. “Stopping Africa’s Medical Brain Drain.” BMJ 331 (7507): 2–3.
  • Kasper, J., and K. Bajunirwe. 2012. “Brain Drain in Sub-Saharan Africa: Contributing Factors, Potential Remedies and the Role of Academic Medical Centres.” Archives of Disease in Childhood 97 (11): 973–979.
  • Kiberu, V. M., Maurice Mars, and Richard E. Scott. 2017. “Barriers and Opportunities to Implementation of Sustainable e-Health Programmes in Uganda: A Literature Review.” African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine 9 (1): 1277.
  • Krah, Eva F. M., and J. G. de Kruijf. 2016. “Exploring the Ambivalent Evidence Base of Mobile Health (mHealth): A Systematic Literature Review on the Use of Mobile Phones for the Improvement of Community Health in Africa.” Digital Health 2 (20): 12–17.
  • Lee, S. H., U. B. Nurmatov, B. I. Nwaru, M. Mukherjee, L. Grant, and C. Pagliari. 2016. “Effectiveness of mHealth Interventions for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review and MetaAnalysis.” Journal of Global Health 6 (1): 10–22.
  • LeFevre, A., Maria A. Cabrera-Escobar, Diwakar Mohan, Jaran Eriksen, Debbie Rogers, Annie Neo Parsons, Iman Barre, Youngji Jo, Alain Labrique, and Jesse Coleman. 2018. “Forecasting the Value for Money of Mobile Maternal Health Information Messages on Improving Utilization of Maternal and Child Health Services in Gauteng, South Africa: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth 6 (7): 153.
  • Lund, S., M. Hemed, B. B. Nielsen, A. Said, K. Said, M. H. Makungu, and V. Rasch. 2012. “Mobile Phones as a Health Communication Tool to Improve Skilled Attendance at Delivery in Zanzibar: A Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial.” BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 119 (10): 1256–1264.
  • Lund, S., Birgitte B. Nielsen, Maryam Hemed, Ida M. Boas, Azzah Said, Khadija Said, Mkoko H. Makungu, and Vibeke Rasch. 2014. “Mobile Phones Improve Antenatal Care Attendance in Zanzibar: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 14: 29.
  • Mechael, P., Hima Batavia, Nadi Kaonga, Sarah Searle, Ada Kwan, Adina Goldberger, Lin Fu, and James Ossman. 2010. “Barriers and Gaps Affecting mHealth in Low and Middle Income Countries.” Policy White Paper. New York: Center for Global Health and Economic Development Earth Institute, Columbia University.
  • Medhanyie, A. A., Araya Abrha, Alex Little, Henock Yebyo, Mark Spigt, Kidane Tadesse, Roman Blanco, and Geert-Jan Dinant. 2015. “Health Workers’ Experiences, Barriers, Preferences and Motivating Factors in Using mHealth Forms in Ethiopia.” Human Resources for Health 13 (2): 1–12.
  • Mensah, N., Felix Sukums, Timothy Awine, Andreas Meid, John Williams, Patricia Akweongo, Jens Kaltschmidt, Walter E. Haefeli, and Antje Blank. 2015. “Impact of an Electronic Clinical Decision Support System on Workflow in Antenatal Care: The QUALMAT eCDSS in Rural Health Care Facilities in Ghana and Tanzania.” Global Health Action 8 (1): 25–37.
  • Musabyimana, A., Hinda Ruton, Erick Gaju, Atakilt Berhe, Karen A. Grépin, Joseph Ngenzi, Emmanuel Nzabonimana, Celestin Hategeka, and Michael R. Law. 2018. “Assessing the Perspectives of Users and Beneficiaries of a Community Health Worker mHealth Tracking System for Mothers and Children in Rwanda.” PLOS One 13 (6): 19–25.
  • Muula, A. 2006. “Shortage of Health Workers in the Malawian Public Health Services System: How Do Parliamentarians Perceive the Problem?” African Journal of Health Sciences 13 (1–2): 124–130.
  • Nachega, J. B., Donald Skinner, Larissa Jennings, Jessica Magidson, Frederick Altice, Jessica Burke, Richard Lester, et al. 2016. “Acceptability and Feasibility of mHealth and Community-Based Directly Observed Antiretroviral Therapy to Prevent Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in South African Pregnant Women Under Option B+: An Exploratory Study.” Patient Preference and Adherence 10: 683–690.
  • Ngabo, F., Judith Nguimfack, Friday Nwaigwe, Catherine Mugeni, Denis Muhoza, David R. Wilson, John Kalach, Richard Gakuba, Corrine Karema, and Agnes Binagwaho. 2012. “Designing and Implementing an Innovative SMS-Based Alert System (RapidSMS-MCH) to Monitor Pregnancy and Reduce Maternal and Child Deaths in Rwanda.” The Pan African Medical Journal 13: 31–31.
  • Pagalday-Olivares, P., Bengt Arne Sjöqvist, Jessy Adjordor-van de Beek, Samuel Abudey, Ants R. Silberberg, and Ruben Buendia. 2017. “Exploring the Feasibility of EHealth Solutions to Decrease Delays in Maternal Healthcare in Remote Communities of Ghana.” BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 17 (1): 156.
  • Poppe, A., Elena Jirovsky, Claire Blacklock, Pallavi Laxmikanth, Shabir Moosa, Jan De Maeseneer, Ruth Kutalek, and Wim Peersman. 2014. “Why sub-Saharan African Health Workers Migrate to European Countries That do not Actively Recruit: a Qualitative Study Post-Migration.” Global Health Action 7: 24–34.
  • Requejo, J. H., and Z. A. Bhutta. 2015. “The Post-2015 Agenda: Staying the Course in Maternal and Child Survival.” Archives of Disease in Childhood 100 (1): 76–81.
  • Ronen, K., Jennifer A. Unger, Alison L. Drake, Trevor Perrier, Pamela Akinyi, Lusi Osborn, Daniel Matemo, Gabrielle O’Malley, John Kinuthia, and Grace John-Stewart. 2018. “SMS Messaging to Improve Art Adherence: Perspectives of Pregnant HIV-Infected Women in Kenya on HIV-Related Message Content.” AIDS Care 30 (4): 500–505.
  • Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Linda Richter, Heidi Van Rooyen, Alastair Van Heerden, Mark Tomlinson, Alan Stein, Tamsen Rochat, et al. 2011. “Project Masihambisane: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial with Peer Mentors to Improve Outcomes for Pregnant Mothers Living with HIV.” Trials 12 (2): 1–12.
  • Royston, G., Christine Hagar, Lesley-Anne Long, Dennis McMahon, Neil Pakenham-Walsh, and Nand Wadhwani. 2015. “Mobile Health-Care Information for All: A Global Challenge.” The Lancet Global Health 3 (7): 356–357.
  • Sherr, K., Antonio Mussa, Baltazar Chilundo, Sarah Gimbel, James Pfeiffer, Amy Hagopian, Stephen Gloyd, and J. Jaime Miranda. 2012. “Brain Drain and Health Workforce Distortions in Mozambique.” PLoS One 7 (4): e35840–43.
  • Shiferaw, S. M., Mark Spigt, Michael Tekie, Muna Abdullah, Mesganaw Fantahun, Geert-Jan Dinant, and Gabriel Gebhardt. 2016. “The Effects of a Locally Developed mHealth Intervention on Delivery and Postnatal Care Utilization; A Prospective Controlled Evaluation among Health Centres in Ethiopia.” PLOS One 11 (7): 54–63.
  • Sieleunou, I. 2011. “Health Worker Migration and Universal Health Care in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Pan African Medical Journal 10: 55.
  • Silva, Bruno M. C., J. C. Rodrigues, Isabel de la Torre Díez, Miguel López-Coronado, and Kashif Saleem. 2015. “Mobile-Health: A Review of Current State in 2015.” Journal of Biomedical Informatics 56: 265–272.
  • Smith, C. J., Judy Gold, Thoai D. Ngo, Colin Sumpter, and Caroline Free. 2015. “Mobile Phone-Based Interventions for Improving Contraception Use.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 6: 11–21.
  • Tsirintani, M. 2016. “Mobile Technologies in Healthcare and Electronic Health Records.” Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 226: 249–252.
  • Unger, J. A., K. Ronen, T. Perrier, B. DeRenzi, J. Slyker, A. L. Drake, D. Mogaka, J. Kinuthia, and G. John-Stewart. 2018. “Short Message Service Communication Improves Exclusive Breastfeeding and Early Postpartum Contraception in a Low- to Middle Income Country Setting: A Randomised Trial.” BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 125 (12): 1620–1629.
  • van den Heuvel, J. F., T. Katrien Groenhof, Jan H. W. Veerbeek, Wouter W. van Solinge, A. Titia Lely, Arie Franx, and Mireille N. Bekker. 2018. “eHealth as the Next-Generation Perinatal Care: An Overview of the Literature.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 20 (6): 20–32.
  • van Heerden, A. S., Shane Norris, Stephen Tollman, Linda Richter, and Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus. 2013. “Collecting Maternal Health Information From HIV-Positive Pregnant Women Using Mobile Phone-Assisted Face-to-Face Interviews in Southern Africa.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 15 (6): 116–124.
  • Varshney, U. 2014. “Mobile Health: Four Emerging Themes of Research.” Decision Support Systems 66: 20–35.
  • Wakadha, H. S., Subhash Chandir, Elijah Victor Were, Alan Rubin, David Obor, Orin S. Levine, Dustin G. Gibson, Frank Odhiambo, Kayla F. Laserson, and Daniel R. Feikin. 2013. “The Feasibility of Using Mobile Phone Based SMS Reminders and Conditional Cash Transfers to Improve Timely Immunization in Rural Kenya.” Vaccine 31 (6): 987–993.
  • Wallwiener, S. M., Mitho Müller, Anne Doster, Wolfgang Laserer, Corinna Reck, Jan Pauluschke-Fröhlich, Sara Y. Brucker, Christian W. Wallwiener, and Markus Wallwiener. 2016. “Pregnancy Ehealth and mHealth: User Proportions and Characteristics of Pregnant Women Using Web-Based Information Sources—a Cross-Sectional Study.” Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics 294 (5): 937–944.
  • Watterson, J. L., J. Walsh, and I. Madeka. 2015. “Using mHealth to Improve Usage of Antenatal Care, Postnatal Care, and Immunization: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” BioMed Research International 20 (15): 15–34.
  • White, A. D., Deborah S.K. Thomas, Nnamdi Ezeanochie, and Sheana Bull. 2016. “Health Worker mHealth Utilization: A Systematic Review.” CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing 34 (5): 206–213.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.