title: The Architecture of a Software System for Supporting Community-based Primary Health Care with Mobile Technology: The Mobile Technology for Community Health (MoTeCH) Initiative in Ghana.
abstract: THIS PAPER DESCRIBES THE SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE OF A SYSTEM DESIGNED IN RESPONSE TO THE HEALTH DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL OF TWO CONCOMITANT TRENDS IN POOR COUNTRIES: i) The rapid expansion of community health worker deployment, now estimated to involve over a million workers in Africa and Asia, and ii) the global proliferation of mobile technology coverage and use. Known as the Mobile Technology for Community Health (MoTeCH) Initiative, our system adapts and integrates existing software applications for mobile data collection, electronic medical records, and interactive voice response to bridge health information gaps in rural Africa. MoTeCH calculates the upcoming schedule of care for each client and, when care is due, notifies the client and community health workers responsible for that client. MoTeCH also automates the aggregation of health status and health service delivery information for routine reports. The paper concludes with a summary of lessons learned and future system development needs.
authors.affiliation: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY and Computer Science Department at the University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Macleod
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Allison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: Aliya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walji
authors.forename: John Koku
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Awoonor-Williams
keywords: Child Health; Electronic Medical Records; Low Resource Settings; Maternal; Mobile Phones