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Barriers to pilot mobile teleophthalmology in a rural hospital in Southern Malawi
Guillermo Martínez Pérez1, Wayne Swart2, Jimmy Kondwani Munyenyembe3
1Southern Africa Medical Unit, Médecins Sans Frontières, Cape Town, Southern Africa.
Introduction:
Malawi has one of the highest HIV prevalences in Sub-Saharan Africa. The rate of eligible HIV-infected people being initiated on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and retained in HIV-care is currently far from adequate. Consequently, many people continue present with advanced immunosuppression at public health facilities, often with undiagnosed opportunistic infections (OIs).
Methods:
In this context, mHealth was the innovation chosen to assist Eye Clinical Officers in early diagnosis of HIV-related diseases having eye manifestations in a rural hospital in Thyolo, Southern Malawi.
Results:
The mTeleophthalmology program began in October 2013, but was stopped prematurely due to organizational and technological barriers that compromised its feasibility.
Conclusion:
Sharing these barriers might be useful to inform the design of similar innovations in other resource-limited settings with a high HIV prevalence and a dearth of eye specialists with capacity to diagnose HIV-related retinopathies.
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