Our Research

Our project ran in remote rural areas in Pakistan and Tanzania and five urban slums in Bangladesh, Kenya and Nigeria (Feb 2019-June 2020). We analysed national policies and identified existing mConsulting services in each country. We held interviews and ran workshops, reaching over 230 community residents, 50 local health workers and 30 local and national decision-makers about their use, experiences and perceptions of mConsulting.

Data were qualitatively analysed for key themes within and across sites. We also analysed secondary data from a household survey undertaken in the five urban study sites by the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Improving Health in Slums.

Related work

COVID-19 response: Remote consulting for healthcare (ReaCH): Training health workers to continue health care delivery digitally in low resource countries

Co-produced mobile consulting for remote, marginalised communities in Africa (UKRI GCRF Digital Innovation for Development in Africa)

Digital communication in the NHS, UK Improving health outcomes for young people with long-term conditions: The role of digital communication in current and future patient-clinical communication for NHS providers of specialist clinical services (the LYNC Study)

Outputs and Resources

Peer-reviewed papers

Mobile consulting as an option for delivering healthcare services in low-resource settings in low- and middle-income countries: A mixed-methods study

Mobile consulting (mConsulting) and its potential for providing access to quality healthcare for populations living in low-resource settings of low- and middle-income countries

Short films and documentaries

mConsulting in Gadap, Pakistan

Policy Briefs

Mobile health consulting as an option for improved access to healthcare in Nairobi’s slums

Investing in mConsulting to improve health care for marginalised communities in Tanzania

mConsulting as an option for improving access to heathcare in Nigeria

COVOICES: Bangladesh - Community perspective on health in slums at the time of COVID-19

Mobile consulting as an option for improving healthcare access in low-resource settings

Mobile Consulting: An Option to enhance Healthcare Access in Pakistan

Evidence Review

Policy and Evidence Review in support of NIHR Group Application, November, 2020

Funding Acknowledgement

The mConsulting Project was supported by a foundation grant from the Health Systems Research Initiative with funding from the UK Department for International Development, the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome (grant no. MR/S012729/1).

Partners

Our partners are:

• African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), Kenya
• Independent University, Bangladesh
• The Aga Khan University, Pakistan
• University of Ibadan, Nigeria
• St Francis College of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania

• King's College London. UK

Project Advisory Groups

Research in each study site has been guided by a Project Advisory Group of local experts, including community leaders, local health workers and managers, mHealth service providers, mobile companies, technical and academic experts, local NGOs and researchers.