141st APHA Annual Meeting

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294381
Mobile health applications for community health workers

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 : 9:30 AM - 9:45 AM

Jonathan Jackson , Dimagi, Inc., Cambridge, MA
This presentation will provide evidence and discuss lessons learned from the last five years of implementing CommCare, an open source mobile health tool for client tracking and case management, as well as the even greater possibilities expected from integrating CommCare with other mobile health tools in the MOTECH Suite. CommCare is being used to strengthen dozens of community health programs in over 25 countries including Afghanistan, Kenya, India, Mozambique, Nicaragua, United States, Tanzania, and Zambia. Dimagi's current partners include BBC WST, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, IntraHealth, JHPIEGO, Partners in Health, PATH, Pathfinder International, Save the Children, and World Vision. The talk will present evidence showing that a simple mHealth tool such as CommCare improves access, quality, experience, and accountability of care by community health workers in several low-and middle- income country settings. The session will also review success factors for where CommCare has been used most effectively and highlight the potential role of mobile health products as tools that can help people drive change in health systems. We will also describe the collaboration between Grameen Foundation and Dimagi on the MOTECH Suite which combines the mobile health platforms developed by both organizations.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Communication and informatics

Learning Objectives:
Describe four potential benefits from using mHealth applications with client tracking rather than simpler data collection.List and explain at least three factors that help determine the success of implementing CommCare.

Keywords: Technology, Community-Based Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Jonathan Jackson is an innovator with extensive mobile health technology expertise in both developed and developing countries. Jonathan has overseen numerous mobile health projects as a PI or co-investigator, including SmartCare, the National HIV medical record systems in Zambia and CommCare, a mobile phone based system for community healthcare workers with thousands of users in use in 30 countries.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
Dimagi Mobiel Health Employment (includes retainer) and Stock Ownership

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.