Mobile Technologies for Health (mHealth)

  • K4Health Highlights
    May 10, 2013

    Bangladesh Knowledge Management Initiative: Access on the frontlines

    Becca Simon

    JHU∙CCP | Communications Manager

    Originally appearing on the Global Health Knowledge Collaborative (GHKC) Blog, this post by Basil Safi describes a pilot eHealth program in Bangladesh that equips community health workers with Netbooks loaded with behavior change communication materials rigorously vetted by the Bangladesh Knowledge Management Initiative (BKMI) and the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOFW). Basil discussed the pilot project at the Global Health Knowledge Management Share Fair last month, and it was recently highlighted on USAID's Impact Blog in a post by Monica Bautista and Peggy D'Adamo.

    A Family Planning Provider in Bangladesh

    BKMI will help providers access the latest resources to better counsel their clients on family planning (FP), maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and nutrition. 

    © 2011 Cassandra Mickish/CCP, Courtesy of Photoshare

    Under the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project, the Bangladesh Knowledge Management Initiativeworks to build the capacity of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) in Bangladesh to improve knowledge management and coordinate behavior change communication (BCC) in the country.  BKMI collaborated with MOHFW to establish the gold standard of BCC for health, population and nutrition and make the best tools and resources available in an offline, digital format to health workers in the field.  BKMI is using a rigorous monitoring and evaluation plan to assess the impact of this pilot project.  

    During the Global Health Knowledge Collaborative's Knowledge Management Share Fair on April 16th in Washington, DC, I explained that as part of the initiative, 300 community-level health workers in the Sylhet and Chittagong districts will receive netbooks pre-loaded with HPN BCC eToolkits and eight eLearning courses to use when counseling clients about family planning (FP), maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and nutrition. The digital resources will also be made available on computers in 42 health complexes, 12 clinics and two Agriculture Information Communication Centers.  By the end of the pilot, a robust evaluation will look for changes in field workers’ knowledge and BCC skills, as well as their clients’ intention to adopt healthier behaviors around FP, MNCH and nutrition.

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  • April 02, 2013

    A New Primer on Sustaining mHealth Interventions

    Pamela Riley

    Abt Associates | Senior mHealth Advisor

    While mobile technology has attracted widespread recognition of the enormous opportunity for its application to development challenges, few m-enabled solutions are commercially viable.  New business models in mhealth are needed that take into account the constraints of a country’s health system and a community’s purchasing power.

    SHOPS co-funded a study conducted by the Monitor Group which mapped  430 inclusive businesses (see box for definition) from nine African countries.  The purpose of the study was to identify successful business models that enable enterprises to engage profitably at scale with base of the pyramid (BOP) populations.  In the study, twelve m-enabled businesses were identified, but none were profitable other than mPesa, which offers financial transactions through mobile phones.  A new primer released last week entitled m-Enabled Inclusive Business Models: Application for Health, examines enterprises leveraging mobile technology with considerable potential to contribute to poverty alleviation.

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  • K4Health Highlights
    March 14, 2013

    Scale-up and Sustainability of mHealth Programs: Online Discussion Forum March 18-22

    Becca Simon

    JHU∙CCP | Communications Manager

    Originally published on March 14, 2013 on the GSMA mHealth Blog, K4Health's Laura Raney discusses the upcoming online discussion forum hosted jointly by the mHealth Working Group and the mHealth Alliance.

    Co-hosted by the mHealth Working Group and the mHealth Alliance, this online discussion forum aims to gather input from the global community about their opinions on and experience with scale-up and sustainability. The discussion follows the recent Skoll World Forum debate series on Moving beyond Pilotitis.

    M4RH Image

    Photo courtesy of the M4RH Program.

    Experts representing a variety of organizations will address the following questions:

    • What does it mean to design for scale and sustainability?
    • Does designing for scale and sustainability alleviate ‘pilotitis’?
    • What are the drawbacks of designing for scale and sustainability from the beginning (particularly for new mHealth programs)?
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  • K4Health Highlights
    February 11, 2013

    Are Technology and Prudent Knowledge Management Answers to Saving a Health System?

    Farhan Bandeali

    JHU∙CCP | Intern

    Perspective of a student intern in Bangladesh.

    Bangladesh is a land of stark differences. Deep divides between socio-economic classes and, more importantly, even deeper divides in access to quality healthcare exist between rural and urban areas. Additionally, an inequity which might be less obvious but possibly of crucial importance, is the difference in performance between Frontline Health Workers (FHWs) in rural versus peri-urban and urban areas.

    Populations are less densely populated in rural areas and even the lowest level government FHWs tend to be much better compensated on average than the populations they serve. Which is why, it is not uncommon to find FHWs who live quite far from the areas they serve in the interest of better schools for their children or more amenities such as electricity to enjoy.

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  • K4Health Highlights
    January 28, 2013

    Coordinating and Integrating eHealth Initiatives

    Vanessa Mitchell

    JHU∙CCP | Technical Advisor

    Throughout the Global Maternal Health Conference in Arusha, Tanzania, presentations on mHealth and broader eHealth were numerous. As a person working on an eHealth initiative and concerned with knowledge management, I have to wonder how we’re ever going to coordinate and integrate all of this work not just within countries but globally. Or are the needs and lessons for eHealth too context specific?

    It is important that we continue to explore new avenues for partnering and forums for sharing important lessons with each other. As part of those partnerships, ministries and government need to be in the driver’s seat for sustainability. The Bangladesh Knowledge Management Initiative (BKMI) understands this well and is working hand in hand with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to implement their eHealth initiative.

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