Improving Access to Health Services in Sub-Saharan Africa Using Mobile and Wireless Technologies

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, communicable sicknesses are still the leading cause of death, causing about 70% of deaths (IPIN 2012). WHO (2016) reports that sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about 90% of the world’s yearly 300–500 malaria cases. The most affected are children and pregnant women. Furthermore, with just about 12% of the world’s population, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 49% of maternal mortality and about 50% of infant mortality under age 5 years (Soucat 2014). Additionally, a sub-Saharan African population is the most affected with HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world. For example, in 2013, 71% (about 24.7 million) of the people living with HIV globally were from sub-Saharan Africa, with 1.5 million new HIV infections and 1.1 million AIDS-related deaths every year (UNAIDS 2014). On the other hand, viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are steadily gaining ground in sub-Saharan Africa, with frequent occurrence of epidemics such as yellow fever, the Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Rift Valley fever, or Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever virus (IPIN 2012). The recent Ebola epidemic in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone is the gravest in history. It is reported that, out of 13,500 Ebola cases, about 4900 resulted in deaths (WHO 2016). Despite the massive disease prevalence, there are extremely few medical facilities and professionals to handle the disease burden. In many sub-Saharan African countries, there are very few hospital beds, doctors, nurses, midwives, and other health professionals as compared to their counterparts in developed countries. For instance,