title: An ICT-Based Diabetes Management System Tested for Health Care Delivery in the African Context.
abstract: The demand for new healthcare services is growing rapidly. Improving accessibility of the African population to diabetes care seems to be a big challenge in most countries where the number of care centers and medical staff is reduced. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have great potential to address some of these challenges faced by several countries in providing accessible, cost-effective, and high-quality health care services. This paper presents the Mobil Diab system which is a telemedical approach proposed for the management of long-term diseases. The system applies modern mobile and web technologies which overcome geographical barriers, and increase access to health care services. The idea of the system is to involve patients in the therapy process and motivate them for an active participation. For validation of the system in African context, a trial was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 40 Subjects with diabetes divided randomly into control and intervention groups were included in the test. Results show that Mobil Diab is suitable for African countries and presents a number of benefits for the population and public health care system. It improves clinical management and delivery of diabetes care services by enhancing access, quality, motivation, reassurance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.
authors.affiliation: Infokom GmbH, 17034 Neubrandenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Takenga
authors.affiliation: Infokom GmbH, 17034 Neubrandenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Rolf-Dietrich
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Berndt
authors.affiliation: Health Department, Baptist Church in Central Africa (CBCA), Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Musongya
authors.affiliation: Health Department, Baptist Church in Central Africa (CBCA), Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kitero
authors.affiliation: Health Department, Baptist Church in Central Africa (CBCA), Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Remi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Katoke
authors.affiliation: Health Department, Baptist Church in Central Africa (CBCA), Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Kakule
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Molo
authors.affiliation: Ruwenzori State University (UOR), Butembo, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Basile
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kazingufu
authors.affiliation: Ruwenzori State University (UOR), Butembo, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Malikwisha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meni
authors.affiliation: Ruwenzori State University (UOR), Butembo, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Mambo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vikandy
authors.affiliation: Provincial Health Division (DPS), Ministry of Health, North Kivu, Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takenga