Mobile Health Initiatives in Malawi

Mobile health (mHealth) has emerged as a tool to enhance efficiency of healthcare service delivery in developing countries especially in hard-to-reach areas. The purpose of this article was to review the mHealth initiatives implemented in Malawi as a developing country, since 2010-2017 and their impact on health outcomes. Data was gathered through published reports, peer-reviewed papers, grey-literature on electronic health (eHealth), telemedicine and mHealth. The findings reveal that although the majority of mHealth projects have registered positive impacts, implementation challenges still exist. The study also revealed that the majority of mHealth projects are driven and funded by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) and have not moved beyond pilot phase. There is also lack of funding model on part of the Malawi Government to scale-up the mHealth programmes. Based on the challenges, the article makes some recommendations.