Impact of mobile health-enhanced supportive supervision and supply chain management on appropriate integrated community case management of malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in children 2-59 months: A cluster randomized trial in Eastern Province, Zambia

Authors: Godfrey Biemba, Boniface Chiluba, Kojo Yeboah-Antwi, Vichael Silavwe, Karsten Lunze, Rodgers K Mwale, Davidson H Hamer, and William B McLeod

Poor supply chain management and a lack of supportive supervision represent challenges to successful treatment of childhood illnesses like diarrhoea, malaria, and pneumonia. Godfrey Biemba and his team wanted to know whether a mobile health (mHealth) system could help CHWs monitor medical stock and improve the quality of supervision and mentoring of CHWs. Results indicated that mHealth was ineffective at producing positive outcomes for CHWs, but the researchers speculated that studies conducted over a longer period of time might provide better evidence about whether or not mHealth improves health outcomes.