Exploration of The Utility of Mobile Technology in Monitoring and Evaluation Systems in The Kenya Health Sector A Case of Amref Mobile Jamii Afya Link in Makueni County Kenya

Abstract

This study explored the utility of mobile technologies in the Kenyan health Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system, focusing on m-Jali by Amref Health Africa (Amref) in Kenya to identify the application’s competitive advantage and best practices for replication. It was anchored on the system theory, and adopted a descriptive research design. The study targeted seven (7) community units (CUs) and connected health facilities under m-Jali implementation in Makueni County. A total of 128 respondents were sampled. These included Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) and officials from the Ministry of health (MoH). Data was collected using questionnaires and interview guides and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23.0. According to the findings, there is aneed for efficiency and convenience as these are the principal drivers for the adoption of mobile technologies in health M&E. The findings also showed that 20% of health M&E systems’ effectiveness and efficiency can be explained by the utility of m-Jali and similar mobile technologies as indicated by R2 = 0.198. Additionally, the findings revealed that most users experienced challenges in using m-Jali, which made them stop using it. The study concluded that there is inadequate financing to build, implement, and maintain adequate health M&E mobile technologies. Another conclusion was that there is lack of ownership and impetus by the MoH in the development of mobile technologies for M&E. Therefore, the study recommends that MoH invests financially in mobile technologies for M&E and takes strategic ownership of the process to design, implement, and maintain the technologies. Further, the study recommends a review of the Kenyan health M&E system to accommodate mobile-based approaches.