Supporting home based health care in South African rural communities using USSD technology

Abstract

Poor infrastructure, inadequate literacy, availability of technology and socio-cultural settings are a few factors in the myriad of challenges facing the development of rural areas in South Africa. Healthcare is one of the most important sectors where governments of developing countries strive to enhance the situation by utilizing affordable ICT solutions. However, unlike developed regions, in rural areas within a developing context, issues are intertwined. This requires truly innovative solutions that are affordable, robust and above all sustainable. The authors propose a patient monitoring system using USSD technology which is a very easy to use mobile phone application. This information system facilitates patient information flows from homebased care workers to a local clinic. Clinic sisters have instant access to patients’ vital signs via a desktop computer. The results presented in this article are tested by means of a prototype, which is currently in use and producing data.