Observational studyAfrican health sciences2016
A demonstration of mobile phone deployment to support the treatment of acutely ill children under five in Bushenyi district, Uganda.
Observational study in African health sciences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Community health worker-based mobile health (mHealth) approaches for improving management and caregiver knowledge of common childhood infections: A systematic review.Journal of global health · 2020Pooled it
- Health workers' perceptions and experiences of using mHealth technologies to deliver primary healthcare services: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Strengthening Delivery of Health Services Using Digital Devices.Global health, science and practice · 2018Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Smartphone-Based Community Case Management on the Urgent Referral, Reconsultation, and Hospitalization of Children Aged Under 5 Years in Malawi: Cluster-Randomized, Stepped-Wedge Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Trial
- Impact of mobile health-enhanced supportive supervision and supply chain management on appropriate integrated community case management of malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in children 2-59 months: A cluster randomised trial in Eastern Province, Zambia.Journal of global health · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Information and Communication Technology to Enhance the Implementation of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2024Review
- Health system strengthening using aFrontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Systems E-approach for women at risk (SEWA)-A digital health solution for detection of high-risk pregnancies.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2021Article
- First-step validation of a text message-based application for newborn clinical management among pediatricians.BMC pediatrics · 2020Article
- Identifying residual hotspots and mapping lower respiratory infection morbidity and mortality in African children from 2000 to 2017.Nature microbiology · 2019Article
- Evaluation of Standard and Mobile Health-Supported Clinical Diagnostic Tools for Assessing Dehydration in Patients with Diarrhea in Rural Bangladesh.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2018Article
- Article
- Evaluating mobile solutions of integrated Community Case Management (iCCM): Making the final connection.Malawi medical journal : the journal of Medical Association of Malawi · 2017Article
- Where there is no doctor: can volunteer community health workers in rural Uganda provide integrated community case management?African health sciences · 2017Article
- Updates on communicable and non-communicable diseases in LMICs.African health sciences · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBenefits of mobile phone deployment for children <5 in low-resource settings remain unproven. The target population of the current demonstration study in Bushenyi District, Uganda, presented with acute fever, pneumonia, or diarrhoea and were treated by community health workers (CHWs) providing integrated community case management (iCCM).
methodsAn observational study was conducted in five parishes (47 villages) served by CHWs well versed in iCCM with supplemental training in mobile phone use. Impact was assessed by quantitative measures and qualitative evaluation through household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews.
resultsCHWs in targeted sites improved child healthcare through mobile phone use coupled with iCCM. Of acutely ill children, 92.6% were correctly managed. Significant improvements in clinical outcomes compared to those obtained by CHWs with enhanced iCCM training alone were unproven in this limited demonstration. Nonetheless, qualitative evaluation showed gains in treatment planning, supply management, and logistical efficiency. Provider confidence and communications were enhanced as was ease and accuracy of record keeping.
conclusionMobile phones appear synergistic with iCCM to bolster basic supportive care for acutely ill children provided by CHWs. The full impact of expanded mobile phone deployment warrants further evaluation prior to scaling up in low-resource settings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.