RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Management challenges in mHealth: failures of a mobile community health worker surveillance programme in rural Nepal
JF BMJ Innovations
JO BMJ Innov
FD All India Institute of Medical Sciences
SP 19
OP 25
DO 10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000102
VO 3
IS 1
A1 David J Meyers
A1 Malina Filkins
A1 Alex Harsha Bangura
A1 Ranju Sharma
A1 Ashma Baruwal
A1 Sami Pande
A1 Scott Halliday
A1 Dan Schwarz
A1 Ryan K Schwarz
A1 Duncan S R Maru
YR 2017
UL http://innovations.bmj.com/content/3/1/19.abstract
AB Community health workers form the backbone of healthcare systems globally. The rapid expansion of mobile communications systems represents an opportunity to improve the productivity of community health workers in rural areas. Here, we describe a programme in rural Nepal that aimed to implement a mobile phone system for collecting health surveillance data, yet did not reach its fullest potential due to several programme management challenges during the implementation of the surveillance programme. Despite early successes with the mobile phone system itself, the programme ultimately failed due to leadership transitions, poor process design and a lack of consistent vision of how to operationalise the data. This field report provides important insights into the design, maintenance and pitfalls of similar community-based mobile health initiatives and technology innovation projects in general.