title: Mobile health data collection at primary health care in Ethiopia: a feasible challenge.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Feasibility assessment of mobile health (mHealth) data collection at primary health care in Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 14 health workers were recruited from 12 primary health care facilities to use smartphones, installed with customized data collection application and electronic maternal health care forms for assessing pregnant women's health for 6 months. Qualitative approaches comprising in-depth interviews and field notes were used to document the users' perception and experience in using the application and forms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All health workers had never had previous exposure to smartphones and electronic forms, but they got used to them easily. Over 6 months, all health workers completed a total of 952 patient records using the forms on smartphones. Health workers' acceptability and demand for the application and forms were high. In introducing the application, nontechnical challenges were more difficult to solve than technical challenges.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Introducing an mHealth application at primary health care for routine collection of health data relevant to maternal health at a small scale was feasible. Nonetheless, implementing a system of assigning unique and consistent patient identifier, standardization of health services, and improving mobile network coverage would be prerequisites for scaled-up usage of such an application.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia; Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, 6229 HA Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Alcala, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: araya.medhanyie@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Araya Abrha
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Medhanyie
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, 6229 HA Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia; Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, 6229 HA Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands; Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Alcala, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Department of General Practice, Tromso University, Tromso, Norway.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spigt
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Henock
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yebyo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Alcala, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Digital Campus, 21 North Drive, Littletown, Winchester, S0226QA, England, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Little
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, Peter Debyeplein 1, 6229 HA Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: GeertJan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dinant
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Alcala, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Digital Campus, 21 North Drive, Littletown, Winchester, S0226QA, England, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Blanco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone; D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D011247:Pregnancy; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012423:Rural Health; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Community health workers; Electronic forms; Maternal health; Mobile technologies; Primary health care; mHealth