Implementation of a Monitoring System for Pregnancy by Tele-Ultrasound in an African Context (Burkina Faso)

Prenatal ultrasound is a radiological examination that allows optimal follow-up of pregnancies. However, its implementation remains limited in poor countries due to a lack of equipment and trained health workers, such as in Burkina Faso. The aim of this work is to set up an ultrasound tele-expertise system. To achieve this objective, we mobilized human, material and IT resources. The design of the tele-expertise application was based on a generic open source software called "MedShakeEHR" that we have adapted to our context. The application runs in a network on a Linux system. It enables ultrasound data exchange and sharing with a remote expert for interpretation using the DICOM protocol. This device thus offers the possibility to pregnant women to carry out their prenatal ultrasound locally. It also allows the constitution of prenatal ultrasound database according security and confidentiality standards.