Table 1 Phases* of iCCM + mobile phone project development

Phase 1

Months 1-3

Development of the interface was presented in pilot form at a stakeholders meeting. The interface was tested at the meeting and changes required were recorded.

Phase 2

Month 2

Changes were made to the interface after which the interface was mounted on a regular phone. At a subsequent meeting the application was tested for usability.

Phase 3

Months 1-3

Environmental scan. An environmental scan was completed to look at: 1) common networks used in study area, 2) types of phones commonly used in the study area, 3) mapping of health facilities to determine distance from CHW homes to health centers.

Initially it was thought that it might be possible to locate charging facilities at a health centre, which would function as a central recharging point. The environmental scan, however, revealed that health facilities are too far from CHW homes for this plan to be feasible.

Phase 4

Months 2-5

Results from the environmental scan were analyzed and reported. The environmental scan revealed that MTN (a South Africa-based multinational telecommunications company) was the most widely distributed network provider in the study area, and the most common phone was a Nokia. It was determined that each CHW would require his/her own charging system.

Phase 5

Months 4-6

Procurement process: MTN was contacted and negotiations began for procurement of toll free lines and data bundles. Nokia Uganda was also consulted and a price negotiated to purchase 96 Nokia c1-01 phones at 150 000 USH each. The Barefoot Power Company was also identified as a supplier of solar charging systems, from which 96 solar charging systems were purchased. A dedicated server was purchased during this time. Networking and server configuration, domain mounting, and virtualization were completed.

Phase 6

Month 6

The developed and tested application was mapped onto the phones and necessary configurations were made.

Phase 7

Development of an iCCM + mobile phone training manual: Principles considered during development of the manual included 1) integrating the existing iCCM manual with the mobile phone application, 2) usability of the mobile phone, and 3) basic knowledge of mobile phone use.