ArticleHealth policy and planning2017
Who bears the cost of 'informal mhealth'? Health-workers' mobile phone practices and associated political-moral economies of care in Ghana and Malawi.
Article in Health policy and planning, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Healthcare workers' informal uses of mobile phones and other mobile devices to support their work: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Perspectives of health care professionals' on delivering mHealth sexual and reproductive health services in rural settings in low-and-middle-income countries: a qualitative systematic review.BMC health services research · 2022Pooled it
- Community health workers and health equity in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review and recommendations for policy and practice.International journal for equity in health · 2022Pooled 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
- Effectiveness of adjunct telephone-based postnatal care on maternal and infant illness in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana: a randomized controlled trial.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Trial
- Improving health care facility birth rates in Rorya District, Tanzania: a multiple baseline trial.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Trial
- A pilot study of a novel, incentivised mHealth technology to monitor the vaccine supply chain in rural Zambia.The Pan African medical journal · 2019Trial
- Formalising remote consulting in primary care services for underserved populations with long-term conditions in sub-Saharan Africa: a process evaluation and stakeholder engagement.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Healthcare workers' and managers' uses of mobile phone messaging applications (apps) in their daily work in South Africa: a survey.Oxford open digital health · 2026Article
- Logics of acquiring medicines from informal retailers in four African countries.Global health action · 2025Article
- mHealth knowledge and usage in maternal healthcare delivery: perspectives and experiences of healthcare practitioners in Ghana.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Limitations of Using Mobile Phones for Managing Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Among Youth in Low and Middle-Income Countries: Implications for mHealth.Proceedings of the ACM on human-computer interaction · 2024Article
- Ethical implications of the widespread use of informal mHealth methods in Ghana.Journal of medical ethics · 2024Article
- Barriers and benefits of mHealth for community health workers in integrated community case management of childhood diseases in Banda Parish, Kampala, Uganda: a cross-sectional study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Healthcare workers' perceptions about the use of mobile health technologies in public health facilities in Lagos, Nigeria.SAGE open medicine · 2024Article
- Facilitators and Barriers in the Implementation of a Digital Surveillance and Outbreak Response System in Ghana Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Analysis of Stakeholder Interviews.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Can a Smartphone Application Help Address Barriers to Reporting Substandard/Falsified Medical Products? A Pilot Study in Tanzania and Indonesia.Global health, science and practice · 2023Article
- Barriers, facilitators and motivators of electronic community health information system use among health workers in Ethiopia.Frontiers in digital health · 2023Article
- Article
- Using Information and Communication Technologies to Engage Citizens in Health System Governance in Burkina Faso: Protocol for Action Research.JMIR research protocols · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Africa's recent communications 'revolution' has generated optimism that using mobile phones for health (mhealth) can help bridge healthcare gaps, particularly for rural, hard-to-reach populations. However, while scale-up of mhealth pilots remains limited, health-workers across the continent possess mobile phones. This article draws on interviews from Ghana and Malawi to ask whether/how health-workers are using their phones informally and with what consequences. Health-workers were found to use personal mobile phones for a wide range of purposes: obtaining help in emergencies; communicating with patients/colleagues; facilitating community-based care, patient monitoring and medication adherence; obtaining clinical advice/information and managing logistics. However, the costs were being borne by the health-workers themselves, particularly by those at the lower echelons, in rural communities, often on minimal stipends/salaries, who are required to 'care' even at substantial personal cost. Although there is significant potential for 'informal mhealth' to improve (rural) healthcare, there is a risk that the associated moral and political economies of care will reinforce existing socioeconomic and geographic inequalities.
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