Authors:
Marlen Stacey Chawani
and
Caroline Ngoma
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Norway
Keyword(s):
Community-based maternal and neonatal care, Community health workers, Mobile technology, Electronic health records, Developing countries, Rural areas, Malawi.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Cloud Computing
;
Distributed and Mobile Software Systems
;
e-Health
;
e-Health for Public Health
;
Health Engineering and Technology Applications
;
Health Information Systems
;
Mobile Technologies
;
Mobile Technologies for Healthcare Applications
;
Neural Rehabilitation
;
Neurotechnology, Electronics and Informatics
;
Platforms and Applications
;
Software Engineering
Abstract:
The health systems in many developing countries in Africa are facing critical shortages in nursing and midwifery health professionals and the situation is worse in the rural areas resulting in poor maternal and neonatal health outcomes. One of the interventions to address this challenge has been the use of Community Health Workers to supplement the provision of maternal and neonatal healthcare services within their communities. The international community is advocating for the use of Mobile technology in supporting various health service areas including community-based healthcare. This paper presents findings of a research on the information and communication needs of Community Health Workers in the provision Community -Based Maternal and Neonatal care in the rural areas of a developing country, Malawi, and it examines the potential use for adopting mobile technologies in such a setting to meet their needs.