Leveraging mobile phones for facilitating treatment adherence among patients with chronic health conditions: Implementation results with tuberculosis as case study

Abstract

Early diagnosis, prompt medical care and stringent treatment adherence to the recommended treatment protocol are the three pillars of effectively managing chronic health conditions of public health importance. Complete treatment adherence is necessary for better health outcomes and it is often challenged due to myriad of factors. An innovative and inexpensive mHealth solution aimed at positively influencing treatment adherence by delivering customized services in local language has been developed. Furthermore, this solution is mobile device, internet and connectivity independent. This mHealth solution has been implemented among a group of Tuberculosis (TB) patients in South India. TB, a chronic disease with India contributing to twenty percentage of the global deaths, presents a strong case to demonstrate the applicability and usability of the discussed mHealth solution. This paper describes the solution and its implementation outcomes.