Table 1.

Characteristics of included mHealth studies (n = 29).

Reference	mHealth	Condition	Participants type	Participants #	Study design	Outcome measure	Finding
Yigezu et al.48	Mobile-based VCT	HIV VCT	VCT attendants	144,267	Cross-sectional - cost-effectiveness	Effectiveness—cost-effectiveness	Mobile-based VCT costs less than both facility-based and stand-alone VCTs
Gebremariam et al.49	SMS	Infant feeding	Parents of child-bearing age	41	Cross-sectional	Feasibility, acceptability	Feasible and acceptable option for knowledge sharing and awareness
Starr et al.50	mHealth	Post-surgery follow-up	Patients on post-surgery follow-up	701	Cohort, prospective	Feasibility	Telephone follow-up after surgery is feasible and valuable
Jadhav et al.51	Own mobile phone	Contraceptive	Women of reproductive age	15,683	Cross-sectional, retrospective	Effectiveness— Contraceptive uptake	No association between mobile phone ownership and contraceptive uptake
Bradley et al.52	Smartphone	Post-surgery follow-up	Patients on post-surgery follow-up	24	Cohort	Feasibility	smartphones were low-cost, reliable method to follow-up patient after surgery
Nesemann et al.53	Smartphone-CellScope device for conjunctival photograph	Trachomatous inflammation - follicular	Children aged 1–9 yrs	412	Cross-sectional	Effectiveness	84.1% sensitive 97.6% specific
Tadesse et al.54	mHealth- based e-Partograph	Obstetric care	Healthcare professionals	466	Cross-sectional	Willingness	46% willing to use mobile-phone for e-Partograph
Kassa et al.55	Own mobile phone	Postnatal care	Women in postnatal care	370	Cross-sectional	Knowledge, attitude	3x higher odds of positive attitude to preconception in women who own phone
Kebede et al.56	SMS or voice call reminder	Postnatal appointment	Women in postnatal care	700	RCT	Effectiveness— Postnatal compliance	3x higher odds of postnatal compliance in women who received a reminder
Thomsen et al.57	mHealth-based Safe Delivery App	Delivery	Healthcare professionals	56	Cross-sectional	Usability—user experience	The App improved providers’ delivery knowledge and skills
Jemere et al.58	mHealth-based health services	Diabetes	Patients with diabetes	423	Cross-sectional	Willingness, access,	78% had a phone; 71% willing to receive mHealth-based diabetes services
Habtamu et al.59	Smartphone-based Contrast Sensitivity Test ((PeekCS)	Contrast Sensitivity (CS)	Adults with trachomatous trichiasis	147	RCT	Effectiveness	It is repeatable, rapid, accessible and easy to perform CS testing.
Endebu et al.60	SMS to support medication adherence	HIV/AIDS	people living with HIV/AIDS receiving antiretroviral treatment	420	Cross-sectional	Feasibility, acceptability	High (90.9%) acceptability of SMS on adherence to antiretroviral therapy
Quinonez et al.61	MiGene Family History App	Medical genetics services	Healthcare professionals	47	Cross-sectional	Feasibility	The App was useful for the collection and analysis of genetics data.
Endehabtu et al.62	SMS-based intervention	Antenatal care	Women in antenatal care	416	Cross-sectional	Willingness access,	36% had smartphones; 71% willing to receive SMS-based antenatal care intervention
Mengesha et al.63	mHealth-based HMIS	Data use	Health extension workers	62	Cross-sectional	Data quality, user experience	mHealth-based HMIS improved data quality, data flow, patient follow-up.
Steege et al.64	mHealth-based data and reminder	TB	Health extension workers	19	Cross-sectional	Quality—healthcare delivery	Improved community TB and maternal health service delivery
Martindale et al.65	MeasureSMS- morbidity reporting tool	lymphatic filariasis, podoconiosis	Healthcare professionals	59	Cross-sectional, comparative	Effectiveness, cost, time	MeasureSMS tool was more effective, 13.7% less costly than paper-based reporting
Abate et al.66	Telepathology Acquiring microscopic images using a smartphone camera	blood cell count, malaria lab diagnosis	Healthcare professionals	2	Cross-sectional	Usability, accuracy	It was fast, cost-effective, and accurate in low resource setting.
Shiferaw et al.67	mHealth-based data collection	Maternal health service	Healthcare professionals	15	Experimental/ Implementation	Effectiveness	Timely and complete maternal health data
Atnafu et al.68	SMS-based data exchange Ap.	Antenatal care	Women on antenatal care	3240	RCT	Effectiveness—MCH outcomes	9% increased deliveries attended by skilled health workers
Mableson et al.69	MeasureSMS-Morbidity reporting tool	Lymphatic filariasis (LF) case estimate	People with LF clinical manifestations	400,000	Cross-sectional	Usability as a reporting tool	The tool improved survey and reporting of clinical burden of LF
Medhanyie et al.70	Smartphones for collecting patient data	Maternal health records	Healthcare professional	25	Cross-sectional	Usability	8% improved data completeness compered with paper records
Shiferaw et al.71	Locally customized mHealth App.	Delivery and postnatal care	Women on ANC	2261	Cohort	Quality—ANC services utilization	The App improved delivery in health centers, but not ANC visits
Lund et al.72	mHealth safe delivery App (SDA)	Perinatal and neonatal survival	Women in active labor, provider	3777	RCT	Quality—Perinatal mortality	The SDA nonsignificantly lowered perinatal mortality compared with standard
Kebede et al.73	SMS medication reminders	HIV	HIV patients on ART	415	Cross-sectional	Willingness, access	76% owned cellphone 50.9% willing to receive SMS medication reminder
Medhanyie et al.74	Smartphone-based data records	Maternal health	Healthcare professionals	24	Cross-sectional	Usability	The records were useful for day-to-day maternal healthcare services delivery
Desta et al.75	mVedio for behavior change	Maternal and newborn health	Community members	540	Cross-sectional.	Effectiveness— Community behavior change	mViedo changed community behavior change on maternal and newborn health in rural Ethiopia
Little et al.76	Smartphone open-source health App.	maternal health	Healthcare professionals	37	Cohort	Feasibility—Technical needs	Ownership and empowerment are prerequisites for a successful mHealth program

ANC antenatal care, HMIS health management information systems, LF lymphatic filariasis, MCH maternal and child health, RCT randomized controlled trial, SDA safe delivery app., SMS short message service, VCT voluntary counseling and testing.