NDLI: Challenges facing medical data digitization in low-resource contexts

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Shovlin, A. Ghen, M. Simpson, P. Mehta, K.
Copyright Year	2013
Description	Author affiliation: Humanitarian Eng. & Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) Program, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA, USA (Shovlin, A.; Ghen, M.; Mehta, K.) \|\| iRespond, Seattle, WA, USA (Simpson, P.)
Abstract	Mobile phones, especially with connectivity provided by rapidly expanding 3G networks, can be transformative in the quest for accurate and reliable health data in developing countries. Consequently, a plethora of efforts in the Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) field are focused on collecting, aggregating and digitizing community health information with the ultimate goal of strengthening resource-constrained health care systems. Such ventures often work in conjunction with Community Health Worker (CHW) programs to address the last-mile challenge of reaching rural communities. While leading such ventures in East Africa and South East Asia over the last six years, we have learned the importance of understanding and addressing a wide set of interrelated contextual, communication, business, and technological challenges to data collection. Drawing from these real-world experiences, this article presents the spectrum of challenges that entrepreneurs need to tackle for their data-driven health care ventures to be successful. An example-centric approach is employed with several examples drawn from the Mashavu Telemedicine System in Kenya. Mashavu regressed technologically from one pilot to the next, culminating in a health care delivery venture that is economically sustainable but uses almost no technology and does not collect any data.
Starting Page	365
Ending Page	371
File Size	241163
Page Count	7
File Format	PDF
e-ISBN	9781479924028
DOI	10.1109/GHTC.2013.6713713
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2013-10-20
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Training Context Global health Telemedicine Communities Community health workers Medical services Mobile phones Data collection Mobile handsets Electronic medical records Business
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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