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Setting
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· The Good Start research study, conducted by MRC. The study was a large scale community-based, cluster RCT promoting ante- and post natal care in rural and peri-urban areas in Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal provinces.
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· A social-media NGO providing health awareness education and treatment literacy at clinics and schools throughout South Africa.
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· Two community-based health care NGOs in the Limpopo and Kwazulu-Natal provinces, providing health promotion and prevention services for HIV, TB and chronic disease.
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Purpose of mHealth application
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· Daily data collection and monitoring of community health worker (CHW) activities.
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· Increase efficiency of monitoring and supervision of treatment literacy practitioners (TLPs).
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· Feasibility and efficiency of a mobile management software application, for monitoring and evaluation of CBS, compared to a paper-based monitoring system.
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· Management and supervision of large numbers of CHWs.
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Nature of mHealth application
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· Mobile phones combined with web-based interface for data collection, management and supervision.
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· Mobile phones used for electronic reporting of core indicators in daily work.
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· CHW electronic data collection from any location with immediate transmission to their supervisors.
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· Focus on recruitment of study mothers, monitoring the fidelity of the intervention delivery, and managing caseloads and reporting.
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· TLPs filled in their pre-loaded work log sheet on their mobile phones from any location and immediately transmitted it to a web-based consol.
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· CHWs used a patient specific bar code to log into the mobile management system via the phone, to update patient records during home visits.
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· CHWs issued with entry-level mobile phones with pre-loaded electronic survey forms for data capturing.
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· Able to immediately enter data collected from their allocated households and transmit completed forms via mobile phones, using internet connectivity, to a central computer server.
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· Allowed managers to access, aggregate, analyse, correct errors and report on TLPs’ activities more quickly.
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· Data captured and stored on custom-designed web-based patient and workforce management system accessible to supervisors.
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· Supervisors used a custom-designed management console (or computer terminal) for daily access to data, monitoring and planning of CHW activity.
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· A management console allowed for aggregation of data and auto-generated management reports.
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· Allowed doctors and nurses at clinic level to interact with the data using a web browser, to monitor patient follow-up.
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Software development
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· The electronic survey form and management console developed in collaboration with a for-profit digital provider, using a proprietary software application called Mobenzi Researcher.
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· A software system, called Capture, was developed by a non-profit digital provider, using open-source software.
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· A software system, called Nompilo, was developed by a for-profit digital provider, using proprietary software.
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