ArticlePLOS digital health2024
Status and future prospects for mobile phone-enabled diagnostics in Tanzania.
Article in PLOS digital health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Low-cost social robot designs for education: a review.Frontiers in robotics and AI · 2026Pooled it
- Concomitant cytomegalovirus DNAemia is associated with sustained TNF-α elevation in HIV/AIDS: a multivariable and longitudinal analysis of immune restoration.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Observational
- Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding brucellosis among confirmed cases.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the acceptability of ESIDA app, a smartphone-based clinical decision support application to improve infectious disease outbreak detection in Tanzania: clinician perspectives.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionDiagnosis is a key step towards the provision of medical intervention and saving lives. However, in low- and middle-income countries, diagnostic services are mainly centralized in large cities and are costly. Point of care (POC) diagnostic technologies have been developed to fill the diagnostic gap for remote areas. The linkage of POC testing onto smartphones has leveraged the ever-expanding coverage of mobile phones to enhance health services in low- and middle-income countries. Tanzania, like most other middle-income countries, is poised to adopt and deploy the use of mobile phone-enabled diagnostic devices. However, there is limited information on the situation on the ground with regard to readiness and capabilities of the veterinary and medical professionals to make use of this technology.
methodsIn this study we survey awareness, digital literacy and prevalent health condition to focus on in Tanzania to guide development and future implementation of mobile phoned-enable diagnostic tools by veterinary and medical professionals. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions, guided in-depth interviews and focus group discussion administered to the participants after informed consent was obtained.
resultsA total of 305 participants from six regions of Tanzania were recruited in the study. The distribution of participants across the six regions was as follows: Kilimanjaro (37), Arusha (31), Tabora (68), Dodoma (61), Mwanza (58), and Iringa (50). Our analysis reveals that only 48.2% (126/255) of participants demonstrated significant awareness of mobile phone-enabled diagnostics. This awareness varies significantly across age groups, professions and geographical locations. Interestingly, while 97.4% of participants own and can operate a smartphone, 62% have never utilized their smartphones for health services, including disease diagnosis. Regarding prevalent health condition to focus on when developing mobile phone -enabled diagnostics tools for Tanzania; there was disparity between medical and veterinary professionals. For medical professionals the top 4 priority diseases were Malaria, Urinary Tract Infections, HIV and Diabetes, while for veterinary professionals they were Brucellosis, Anthrax, Newcastle disease and Rabies. DISCUSSION: Despite the widespread ownership of smartphones among healthcare providers (both human and animal), only a small proportion have utilized these devices for healthcare practices, with none reported for diagnostic purposes. This limited utilization may be attributed to factors such as a lack of awareness, absence of policy guidelines, limited promotion, challenges related to mobile data connectivity, and adherence to cultural practices.
conclusionThe majority of medical and veterinary professionals in Tanzania possess the necessary digital literacy to utilize mobile phone-enabled diagnostics and demonstrate readiness to adopt digital technologies and innovations to enhance diagnosis. However, effective implementation will require targeted training and interventions to empower them to effectively apply such innovations for disease diagnosis and other healthcare applications.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.