M-Health combating schistosomiasis in Southern Chad

Official project title:         M-Health combating schistosomiasis in Southern Chad
Project leader:                  Andre Leliveld
Duration:                          2017 - ongoing

The aim of the M-Health Project is to develop a solution for the organization of health care in remote areas of Africa. Accessing health-care in these areas is difficult for reasons of distance mainly. This study builds on a pilot project developed for the treatment of Schistosomiasis in Chad, based on a M-health system consisting of SMS and a mobile laboratory. The project will focus on Chad and explore possibilities in other areas, like Angola and Ghana.

CFIA is part of a consortium which is developing a research project on how and under what conditions m-health solutions can sustainably contribute to improved and more effective prevention, diagnostics and treatment of Schistosomiasis and related diseases. Schistosomiasis (formerly called Bilharzia) is a waterborne worm infection and belongs to the group of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) identified by the World Health Organization. The project will focus on the disease of Schistosomiasis but looks at it from a broader perspective by considering also clustering related diseases as well as contextual and social factors. This allows the research team to shed light on the complete situation and influencing factors before finding sustainable m-health solutions to improve it. To ensure sustainability and enable upscaling, it will be important to find out under which conditions the proposed m-health solutions function. Initially, the research project will focus on m-health solutions to Schistosomiasis (and related diseases) in Torrock, a remote health district in Western Chad where schistosomiasis is endemic and a pilot project on m-health and Schistosomiasis already runs. In addition, the project will build upon research projects that are currently conducted in other contexts, among others in Uganda.