Effectiveness of mHealth interventions for maternal, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis

Lee, Siew Hwa, Nurmatov, Ulugbek ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9557-8635, Nwaru, Bright I., Mukherjee, Mome, Grant, Liz and Pagliari, Claudia 2016. Effectiveness of mHealth interventions for maternal, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Global Health 6 (1) , 010406. 10.7189/jogh.06.010401

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Abstract

Objective To assess the effectiveness of mHealth interventions for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in low– and middle– income countries (LMIC). Methods 16 online international databases were searched to identify studies evaluating the impact of mHealth interventions on MNCH outcomes in LMIC, between January 1990 and May 2014. Comparable studies were included in a random–effects meta–analysis. Findings Of 8593 unique references screened after de–duplication, 15 research articles and two conference abstracts met inclusion criteria, including 12 intervention and three observational studies. Only two studies were graded at low risk of bias. Only one study demonstrated an improvement in morbidity or mortality, specifically decreased risk of perinatal death in children of mothers who received SMS support during pregnancy, compared with routine prenatal care. Meta–analysis of three studies on infant feeding showed that prenatal interventions using SMS/cell phone (vs routine care) improved rates of breastfeeding (BF) within one hour after birth (odds ratio (OR) 2.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27–2.75, I2 = 80.9%) and exclusive BF for three/four months (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.26–2.50, I2 = 52.8%) and for six months (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.46–3.68, I2 = 0.0%). Included studies encompassed interventions designed for health information delivery (n = 6); reminders (n = 3); communication (n = 2); data collection (n = 2); test result turnaround (n = 2); peer group support (n = 2) and psychological intervention (n = 1). Conclusions Most studies of mHealth for MNCH in LMIC are of poor methodological quality and few have evaluated impacts on patient outcomes. Improvements in intermediate outcomes have nevertheless been reported in many studies and there is modest evidence that interventions delivered via SMS messaging can improve infant feeding. Ambiguous descriptions of interventions and their mechanisms of impact present difficulties for interpretation and replication. Rigorous studies with potential to offer clearer evidence are underway

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Global Health Society
ISSN:	2047-2978
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 June 2016
Date of Acceptance:	6 November 2015
Last Modified:	20 Nov 2024 07:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/91596

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