Feasibility of Digital Health Services for Educating the Community People Regarding Lifestyle Modification Combating Noncommunicable Diseases

Mobile health (mHealth), or the use of mobile technology to improve health, is a rapidly expanding field. There have been a number of intervention studies based on mobile apps and most of these focused on specific medical issues. A majority of the available health apps are for health and wellness promotion and disease prevention for the general public. But the pace of traditional academic research is slow and less nimble relative to commercial app development resulting in huge lags in dissemination into commercial settings for public health. This paper assessed the content, usability and efficacy of the commercially launched digital healthcare platform developed by CMED Health for the purpose of preventing major noncommunicable diseases in the rural communities of Bangladesh. A combining approach of quantitative, qualitative and participant observation were used in this study following the principles and process of Action Research methodology. The study evaluated the CMED health app by content analysis, usability testing, health observational study, and efficacy testing. The view of the service receivers, service providers and health managers of the concerned organization was evaluated to test the feasibility. The quantitative data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire from 393 service receivers and qualitative data was collected through Key Informant Interview (KII) of key-informants of service providing team, senior staff members and village opinion leaders and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with the direct service providers and service receivers. The study analyzed quantitative health data generated from the service delivery during 6-month piloting with the members of more than 7,000 households in 21 villages. The main reasons for accepting the CMED health app was showing the results instantly on the screen, instant advices and getting health services in a smart system within a short period of time. This also increased their trust on the health care providers and they were benefitted by the health records stored in the cloud of the user for their next visit to physicians and getting medicines. The people also mentioned about the suitability of the digital healthcare services for preventing diabetes and hypertension in the community.