| dc.description.abstract | The exponential rise in global healthcare challenges; the rise in morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries
have compelled stakeholders to explore alternative ways of overcoming the crisis. Guided by the recommendation of
WHO (2013), efforts have been directed towards prevention, response and strengthening of the existing healthcare
systems. There have also been efforts to explore the potential of mobile technology towards healthcare provision, with
numerous mHealth projects being reported across the developing world. Reports indicate that a significant number of
these solutions have failed before realizing the primary goals, pointing to possible mHealth sustainability challenges. The
study explored literature covering global health challenges, use of mobile technology healthcare solutions in developing
countries, as well literature covering evaluating technology sustainability. Through the review, key factors that influence
sustainability of technology were identified. A cross-sectional survey using questionnaires and a qualitative exploratory
study using interviews and Focused Group Discussion, targeting mHealth stakeholders were used to map and
contextualize the identified sustainability factors to the developing country context. The identified factors were categorized
into three broad categories; Individual factors; User Satisfactions, Access to system, and User Support, Technological
Factors; System Quality, System Scalability, Technology Sustainability, Technology Relevance and System
Interoperability and Management Factors; mHealth Ownership and Net Benefits (Return on Investment). The paper
identifies challenges in the sustainability of mHealth systems in developing countries; using Kenya health sector as a case
and proposes the sustainability evaluation parameters for mHealth systems in developing countries. | en_US |
