Free digital health education in Iringa, Tanzania
This study investigates the effect of the health component in DigI, a digital health intervention, aiming to increase health literacy related to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be applied, measuring the change in health literacy in individuals recruited through a non-randomised controlled trial, before and after the intervention (see below).
Screen shot from DigI prototype website. This will be part of the intervention.
About the project
Health education has the potential to facilitate better use of health care services to strengthen the health care system, and ultimately to improve health outcomes and to reduce morbidity as well as mortality. In this study, we will develop and test the effect of digital health messages related to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniosis (TSCT) (the intervention diseases) in Migoli and Izazi (the intervention villages), in Iringa, Tanzania (TZ).
The intervention is planned as follows: Three health animations will be shown to the participants in the intervention group (part I of the intervention), before a digital platform, providing the intervention villages with digital health messages related to the above-mentioned diseases, will be implemented in TZ in 2019 (part II of the intervention). The platform will be accessible free of charge, through own devices and tablets based in the local Wi-Fi spots in the villages.
Objectives
The overarching objective of the PhD-project is to develop, describe and understand the use of a client aimed digital health intervention, in Iringa, TZ.
Main objectives:
- Assess the effect of the digital health intervention concerning health knowledge related to prevalence, causes/transmission, signs and symptoms, treatment and prevention of the intervention diseases, in a non-randomised controlled trial.
- Explore the reception and perception of the intervention among the users, by semi-structured interviews.
Background
This is a multidisciplinary project involving the Department of Technology Systems and the Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, more specifically the Centre for Global Health, at the University in Oslo, in addition to other partners from Tanzania, Germany, USA, Serbia, France, Norway and Spain. The project runs from 2018-2020.
Financing
The Research Council of Norway and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
Cooperation
- Basic Internet Foundation, Norway
- The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Tanzania
- Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Tanzania
- Epidemiology and Diseases Control Section, Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Tanzania
- Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
- CYSTINET-Africa, Center for Global Health, Technical University of Munich, Germany
- Future Competence International, Norway
- Global Health Media Project, USA
- Fafo, Norway
Start - finish
2017 -2021