Mobile health: Connecting managers, service providers and clients in Bombali district, Sierra Leone. Intervention study on mHealth for maternal and newborn health in resource-poor community and health system settings, Sierra Leone. Final report.
Abstract
This intervention study 'mobile health for maternal and newborn health in resource-poor community and health systems settings, Sierra Leone' was funded by DFID as part of the New and Emerging Technologies Research Competition. The study, implemented in 2012–2013, followed the feasibility study carried out in 2011.
The general objective of the study was to assess the effect of integrating mobile communication strategies, as part of existing health service packages, on maternal and newborn health (MNH) service utilization in one health district, Bombali, in Sierra Leone.
Specific research objectives were:
(i) to assess changes in utilisation of MNH services, including family
planning (FP), associated with expanded options for client-initiated and
provider-initiated mobile communication;
(ii) to assess changes in health workers’ job satisfaction and control
at work, and other self-reported changes due to expanded options for
provider–provider communication and provider–client communication;
(iii) to assess changes in MNH referral systems due to expanded mobile
communication options;
(iv) to assess changes in maternal death reporting;
(v) to identify implications for the health system of mobile
communication initiatives; and
(vi) to make policy recommendations for the integration of mobile
communication initiatives in district-level MNH service packages.
This report presents the overall results of the intervention study that took place between August 2012 and July 2013; for details it refers to the Baseline and Midline reports that were published earlier.
Citation
Jalloh-Vos, H. et al Mobile health: Connecting managers, service providers and clients in Bombali district, Sierra Leone. Intervention study on mHealth for maternal and newborn health in resource-poor community and health system settings, Sierra Leone. Final report. Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam, Netherlands (2014) 141 pp. (+ annexes 94 pp.)