POLITICAL FACTORS, SUSTAINABILITY AND SCALE UP OF MOBILE HEALTH PROJECTS AS EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS IN PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE IN KENYA: A CRITICAL REVIEW
Jacinta Ajiambo Namuhisa - Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
During the devolution process in Kenya, statutory fiscal, administrative and political powers were transferred from the central government to the county governments. It’s generally expected that all citizens especially those in the marginalized communities will benefit by increasing access to health care services notably during epidemics and pandemics, which negatively impact on a country’s economy including health, transportation, agriculture and tourism sectors. One of the strategies for achieving this goal is through the use of mobile phone technology due to its ability to access wide geographical areas, affordability once the initial investment in the technology and technical requirements is achieved and it’s cheap to maintain in terms of resources, this has led to the establishment of mHealth projects in the health sector to be applied at the point of care delivery. Sustainability of these projects has being identified as a major challenge since most mHealth projects terminate at the pilot phase. Scale up of mHealth projects can only occur after successful implementation and sustainability of the project. The analysis will focus on political factors such as leadership and governance, stakeholder management and socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect the sustainability and scale up of mHealth projects as Early Warning System in disease surveillance in Kenya.
