Browsing by Author "Mramba, Bernard"

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Design of an Interactive Mobile Application for Maternal, Neonatal and Infant Care Support for Tanzania
(Scientific Research Publishing, 2018-12-27) Mramba, Bernard; Kaijage, Shubi
Reducing maternal and infant deaths’ rates in the developing countries, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa, remain a big challenge. Despite efforts by governments, the reductions have been unsatisfactory. To accelerate the reduction in maternal and infant deaths, m-health has been proposed as a viable, economical and effective intervention, able to reach the low income and disadvantaged groups. Mobile phone-based applications are among the m-health interventions that have been found to have positive outcomes for different healthcare challenges, such as improving clinical attendance and skilled delivery, and reducing perinatal mortality. However, the adoption of smartphone-based applications for health in Tanzania has been slow. Some of the likely contributing factors might be low technology exposure by the majority of the population and English language skills’ limitations. In this work, we developed a mobile application for providing interactive support to users, thus complementing other solutions available such as SMS and other smartphone apps. The main advantage of this app is the presence of interactive features that enable patient-provider communication. We adopted the Rapid application development (RAD) model for developing the application. We used UML modeling language tools for designing the application. The mobile application’s technical architecture uses various technologies and system development tools such as PHP programming language for the web application, MySQL database manage
Enhancing maternal, newborn and child health support services using an interactive mobile application
(NM-AIST, 2020-02) Mramba, Bernard
Reducing maternal and infant deaths rates in developing countries, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa, remains a challenge. Among the interventions to address the challenge is mHealth. MHealth interventions are associated with positive healthcare outcomes such as in improving clinical attendance, skilled delivery and reducing mortality. However, there is slow adoption of mHealth applications in Tanzania. Factors hindering the use of mHealth are technology exposure and language barrier. This study provides a way to address the challenges by adopting interactive features in a mobile app solution which are successful in social networking and ecommerce apps. Such features may help a patient access services before reaching health facility, hence reducing the risk of maternal and infant deaths during emergency. We adopted a case study approach at Mwananyamala and Temeke hospitals. Respondents expressed readiness in appropriate mobile device ownership and willingness to use the mobile app. The mobile app was developed using the Rapid application development model. Different tools and languages such as Unified Modelling Language (UML), Java, XML, PHP programming language, and MySQL database management system were used. The app was tested colleagues at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, followed by user’s validation at Temeke and Mwananyamala Hospitals. We, recommend enhancement and deployment of the app to users. Since users still view SMS as the preferred feature, future works may integrate this app with text messages. In addition, the government and other stakeholders should adopt innovative methods and efforts aimed at reducing maternal mortality and infant mortality, such as by providing smartphones pregnant women and infant mothers.