mHEALTH-INNOVATE (70) Personal experience with mobile phones (2)

6 May, 2022

A quick response to Geoff Royston's query ["I wonder if anyone has a personal experience that they particularly remember of when use of a mobile phone, e.g. to ask for advice from a colleague or to get some information from the internet, had a significant impact on a health care action or indeed on a health outcome."]

There have been quite a few instances in our community work where a timely guidance for health action helped families who contacted the CWs for advice.

Two specific instances from last year (the Covid phase) come to my mind.

Most hospitals were not having regular out-patient services and children with conditions such as epilepsy could not access services for routine check-up and follow-up. One of the parents on the mobile phone group called up the coordinator of the CW group in the middle of the night and wanted to know if the abnormal movements her daughter was having would warrant a hospital visit. The mother, on the advice of the CW, sent me a videoclip of the child having seizures in her sleep. We managed to organise for the child to be seen in Emergency care unit of the hospital close to the residence and receive appropriate and timely care.

The second instance was when one of the community staff was getting familiar with checking for information about disability certification that was temporarily discontinued in that phase. He realised the work had started again in the Government hospital in the neighbourhood and sent a message to all parents so they could start the application process on time.

These few instances, however, in no way reflect systemic changes in health care but are isolated cases where informal use of mobile phone application helped individuals. These may also be related to trust and friendship in a group coming closer to being a cohesive team of caregivers.

Best regards,

Sunanda

HIFA profile: Sunanda Kolli Reddy is a Developmental Paediatrician from New Delhi, India, with a special interest in Early Child Care and Development of children with neurodevelopmental problems in underserved communities. She is actively involved in health promotion, community-based research, care provider training for promoting abilities of children with special needs, through the various programmes of Centre for Applied Research and Education on Neurodevelopmental Impairments and Disability-related Health Initiatives (CARENIDHI), which she heads (www.carenidhi.org). Her work in the community settings to widen the disability-in-development model of CBR encompasses the wider determinants of health and human capabilities and issues which impact the lives of the poor. She combines her experience in developmental paediatrics with the core work of CARENIDHI's grassroots convergence programmes in partnership with groups working in the area of Implementation research and policy. She is a member of two HIFA working groups: Community Health Workers and mHEALTH-INNOVATE.

http://www.hifa.org/support/members/sunanda

http://www.hifa.org/projects/community-health-workers

https://www.hifa.org/projects/mhealth-innovate-what-can-we-learn-health-...

write2sunanda AT gmail.com