Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30169638›Full record

ArticleHealth policy and planning2018

The impact of an mHealth monitoring system on health care utilization by mothers and children: an evaluation using routine health information in Rwanda.

Hinda Ruton, Angele Musabyimana, Erick Gaju, Atakilt Berhe, Karen A Grépin, Joseph Ngenzi, Emmanuel Nzabonimana, Michael R Law

Open access · hybridAbstract readEvaluation Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Health policy and planning, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
41citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
14.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

41 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Hinda RutonSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
Angele MusabyimanaSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
Erick GajuMinistry of Health, Kigali, Rwanda.
Atakilt BerheUNICEF Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
Karen A GrépinDepartment of Health Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Joseph NgenziSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
Emmanuel NzabonimanaSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
Michael R LawSchool of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
University of Rwanda · RWHarvard University · USMinistry of Health · RWUniversity of British Columbia · CAWilfrid Laurier University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Maternal and child mortality rates remain unacceptably high globally, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. A popular approach to counter these high rates is interventions delivered using mobile phones (mHealth). However, few mHealth interventions have been implemented nationwide and there has been little evaluation of their effectiveness, particularly at scale. Therefore, we evaluated the Rwanda RapidSMS programme-one of the few mHealth programmes in Africa that is currently operating nationwide. Using interrupted time series analysis and monthly data routinely reported by public health centres (n = 461) between 2012 and 2016, we studied the impact of RapidSMS on four indicators: completion of four antenatal care visits, deliveries in a health facility, postnatal care visits and malnutrition screening. We stratified all analyses based on whether the district received concurrent additional supports, including staff and equipment (10 out of 30 Districts). We found that community health workers in Rwanda sent more than 9.3 million messages using RapidSMS, suggesting the programme was successfully implemented. We found that the implementation of the RapidSMS system combined with additional support including training, supervision and equipment provision increased the use of maternal and child health services. In contrast, implementing the RapidSMS system alone was ineffective. This suggests that mHealth programmes alone may be insufficient to improve the use of health services. Instead, they should be considered as a part of more comprehensive interventions that provide the necessary equipment and health system capacity to support them.

Indexed as

MothersPatient Acceptance of Health CareCell PhoneChildFemaleHealth FacilitiesHumansMaternal-Child Health ServicesPregnancyPrenatal CareRwandaTelemedicine

Identifiers

PMID30169638
PMCPMC6172419
OpenAlexW2894761324

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.