Assessment of mobile health technology for maternal and child health services in rural Upper West Region of Ghana

Abstract

Objectives: This study assessed the perspectives of women and health workers on the feasibility of using mobile health technology (mHealth) for the provision of maternal and child health services in rural settings of the Upper West Region of Ghana.

Study design: The study used a mixed-design approach of quantitative and qualitative methods.

Methods: Interviewer-administered questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs), and key informant interviews (KIIs) were employed. Participants included pregnant women, lactating mothers, and health workers from three rural districts.

Results: A total of 489 interviews were conducted, consisting of 290 pregnant women and 199 lactating mothers, with an average age of 26.9 years. Some level of formal education had been received by 67.1% of participants. The mHealth intervention was implemented in the study districts via mobile phones in the form of SMS voice messages, text messages, and phone call reminders. Our results show that participants who received follow-up call reminders and messages (10.2%) from health providers about their health expressed general satisfaction and high optimism toward receiving future follow-ups via their mobile phones. The high acceptability level was also demonstrated in the FGDs and KIIs. Overall, our findings showed that this mHealth intervention was an acceptable and feasible solution to the challenges of access to healthcare services seen in rural areas. Despite the high acceptability level, participants also highlighted barriers, such as limited or erratic power supply and poor mobile network connectivity, which need to be addressed.

Conclusions: mHealth interventions targeting health providers and rural women have the potential to reduce barriers to equitable access to maternal and child healthcare services in these settings. These findings are of clear public health importance and are relevant to policy-makers in this area of service delivery and use; however, policy-makers and program implementers should be cautious of the challenges involved in the scale-up of such an intervention.

Keywords: Ghana; Health providers; Maternal and child health; Rural settings; mHealth.