The state of mHealth development and use by palliative care services in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the literature

Background: Current coverage of palliative care services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains woefully inadequate, but harnessing mHealth could be one approach to facilitate greater service coverage and engagement with patients with life-limiting progressive disease.

Aims: A systematic literature review to identify the development and use of mHealth in palliative care services in SSA.

Methods: 13 electronic databases from 1990 to 2015 were searched alongside the handsearching of journals and citation searching of included article reference lists. Articles were assessed against inclusion and exclusion criteria and study details extracted and tabulated by two researchers. Studies were plotted against a modified World Health Organization mHealth and ICT framework to classify how they are targeting health systems strengthening.

Results: Of 1110 articles, 5 met the inclusion criteria, describing mHealth use in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Malawi. Descriptive analysis revealed that existing mHealth interventions for palliative care services in SSA are limited in number and are being developed for use at the palliative treatment, guidance and coordination stage of care provision. Levels of detail about the development and structure of interventions are low.

Conclusions: mHealth interventions for palliative care in SSA are limited. This is an opportune time to explore how evidence-based mHealth interventions could form part of evolving palliative care services in the region.