March 2016 Meeting Recap - Learning from the Tanzania Technical mHealth CoP
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We d like to thank you for those who participated in the March meeting which featured presentations from Steve Ollis and Ameer Ali For those of you unable to participate here are a few highlights from the presentation and Q A session Rebranding UpdateBefore we jumped into the presentations the co chairs shared some background on why the group has rebranded from the mHealth Working Group to the Global Digital Health Network This decision was made to rebrand as the field of mobile health has evolved since the mHealth Working Group was named over seven years ago We ve found that the term digital health is used more frequently and is a more appropriate descriptor for the work of our members Additionally the working group has truly become a global community and we want the name to reflect this Alongside our name change are a new logo and new co chairs but our membership and our fundamental mission remains the same Analyzing mHealth Working Group DiscussionsKicking off the presentations was PhD candidate Ali Hussain who presented on his research of systematically compiling analyzing and categorizing our discussion threads from the mHealth Working Group over the last 5 6 years Ali used RapidMinor to thoughtfully categorize all of the content in the discussions including who was participating why they were using the discussion group to connect the discussion key topics The discussion threads are broadly categorized in five themes service delivery behavior change communication data collection logistics and finance Each category is sub categorized in country health topic and mobile technology for an in depth analysis of the discussions Ali had a few thoughtful suggestions for the group as we move into the our next phase including building a stronger presence on social media listing mHealth and other relevant journals on our website and encouraging more overall feedback and participation in discussions Ali is currently finalizing the report that will be shared with all group members in coming week Wazazi NipendeniDue to technical difficulties our presenters in Tanzania were unable to join the meeting but Steve Ollis Chief Operating Officer from D Tree and an active member of both The Network and Tanzania s local mHealth community of practice provided an overview of the very popular Wazazi Nipendeni the free SMS health promotion campaign in Tanzania that supports messages about healthy pregnancy safe delivery and post partum care The platform has expanded to include communications on malaria HIV treatment and care nutrition and breastfeeding among other health topics Since the 2012 launch of the campaign over 1 million people are registered in Wazazi Nipendeni and more than 5 million text messages have been sent to participants One of the interesting discussions around this presentation was the collaboration with mobile network operations and the importance of public private partnerships For more information on this and zero rating short codes please consider reading the GSMA paper on Mobile for Development The Importance of Partnerships in mHealth A case study on Wazazi Nipendeni is also available via MAMA Tanzania mHealth Community of PracticeSteve also presented on the Tanzania mHealth Community of Practice which was started to coordinate mHealth projects in Tanzania The group which meets in person and hosts an active list serve via Google Groups has over 100 members and is chaired by the Ministry of Health The group originally set out to have quarterly meetings and four technical working groups on specific topics such as interoperability However the sub working groups didn t gain very much momentum In addition to sharing achievements the group now addresses hot topics such as eHealth and mHealth policy working with telecoms and mHealth s role in the revitalization of program specifically CHW programs Steve concluded by mentioning that the telecommunications and enabling environment for mobile health in Tanzania is rapidly improving New topics such as mobile insurance are emerging We know the Tanzania mHealth Community of Practice was a topic with a lot of interest with a view of what other countries can learn if they want to establish and implement their own communities of practice We look forward to seeing you on April 15 for our next Global Digital Health Network meeting featuring Data for Health Decision Making Registration for in person and virtual participants is now open Warmest regards Heidi Amanda
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Monthly Meeting Minutes, March 2016