Mhealth tools for community-based infectious disease surveillance in Africa: a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Community-based surveillance may encourage early detection of outbreaks and other health threats. Mobile digital tools for health (mHealth) can potentially support the role of community health workers (CHW) in disease surveillance. However, limited information is available on mhealth use by CHW for infectious disease surveillance in Africa. The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of available mhealth tools used by CHW for community-based infectious disease surveillance in Africa. METHODS: The scoping review protocol was registered in OSF registries (doi: 10.17605/OSF.IO/W7MTY). We followed a mixed-methods approach in line with the framework of Arksey and O'Malley amended by Levac et al. and the Joanna Briggs Institute. We searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Google and websites of relevant organizations for peer-reviewed and grey literature. Search terms included a range of synonyms for the three concepts of (1) mhealth, (2) CHW and (3) Africa. Reports were included if they reported on mHealth tools used by CHW for infectious disease surveillance in Africa. RESULTS: We identified 2,496 titles during our search but only 7 met our inclusion criteria. Studies were conducted in Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya and Ghana, and focused on one or more diseases or symptoms: Acute Flaccid Paralysis, Lymphatic Filariasis (LF), COVID-19 and cough with fast respiratory rate. All interventions relied on CHW sending text messages to supervisors via the mhealth tool. Users’ perspective of mhealth tools included: improved surveillance, better linkage with the community and greater efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: We found a small number of mhealth tools used by CHW for infectious disease surveillance in Africa. Tools focused on epidemic-prone and neglected tropical diseases, and linked CHW with their supervisors. Results indicate that mhealth holds potential for strengthening community-based surveillance in Africa.