Iterative Development of a Mobile Phone Application to Support Community Health Volunteers during Cervical Cancer Screening in Western Kenya

Abstract Background To achieve the World Health Organization targets for cervical cancer elimination, low- and middle income countries must develop innovative strategies to provide human papillomavirus (HPV) -based screening at a population level. Mobile health may help fill gaps in electronic specimen tracking and patient education. We sought to develop a mobile health application (“mSaada”) to support HPV-based screening in partnership with community health volunteers and program planners in western Kenya. Methods A team of student programmers developed a prototype to meet previously identified gaps in screening patient education, protocol support, data capture and specimen tracking. The protoype was iteratively developed through three waves of in-person working sessions with quantitative and qualitative feedback, with planned improvements in mSaada functionality after each wave of in-person data collection. Results: Twelve Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) and clinicians took part in the in-person sessions. Participants found mSaada useful and easy to use. Key feedback was used to alter the appearance of the mainframes, add translation in additional local languages and change potentially embarrassing figures. Participants also suggested workflow design and technology needs necessary for sustainability. Conclusion Using a process of iterative feedback with key stakeholders and rapid response from developers, we have developed a mobile application ready for pilot testing in HPV-based screening programs led by CHVs.