The use of mobile phones and other wireless technologies in medical care, such as mobile health applications (mHealth) is not new to most people, especially to people living and self-managing certain chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, bronchial asthma, HIV/AIDS and others. It is used to monitor their health and performance indicators as well as track medical progression and manage comorbidities.

Although advanced patient experience and improved health outcomes are the significant benefits of mHealth, it has also succeeded in anchoring other benefits that have made a living and disease management easier for users, clinicians as well as stakeholders in HIV management and the centre for disease control at large.

How does mHealth save costs in HIV Management?

mHealth solutions for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), such as the BSmart Chart mobile application integrates critical health and medical-related self-assessment reports with features to engage in care, social support, and evaluation methods to describe needs. It has helped reduce face to face clinic visits and improved health outcomes while providing economic benefits for patients (in terms of transportation costs and user fees), and release of capacity where services are struggling to cope with existing and new demands. It alleviates the problems around extremely crowded clinics and the experience of long waiting times that could be billable for some patients in paid employment.

Operational and Cost-related efficiencies for an HIV services experience

Reports from a study conducted in collaboration with Faith Alive Foundation (an NGO that provides care for about 7,500 PLWHA in Jos, Nigeria) using the BSmart Chart mobile app and SmartHIV Manager- a web-based interactive planning platform for the management of HIV services, show that the facility in the worst-case scenario is expected to see a 14% reduction in the number of visits, 9 fewer doctors to operate their service, with a 3% savings in total cost, after accounting for mHealth intervention expenses and mobile phone acquisition.

Staff costs and overheads account for 68% of expenses at FAF but with the adoption of the BSmart Chart App, this is reduced by 3%. This alone has solved the major challenges in HIV management and care which include the following:

• Budgeting
• Health Human Resource
• Service Demand

The implementation of mHealth as an intervention on HIV service delivery demonstrated that the adoption of digital solutions (i.e., the BSmart Chart app) is feasible, cost-effective, and acceptable by PLWHA and service providers. Given that Faith Alive Foundation is currently operating with more than 100% of available doctor’s capacity (i.e., available doctors against required numbers), fewer doctor requirements would translate to release of existing pressure on staff, thus the opportunity to provide high-quality and the most needed compassionate care.

However, it is equally important to employ the use of a mHealth solution that is tailored to PLWHA because it perfectly optimizes professional efforts and productivity, creates an advanced patient experience for better health outcomes, and increases patients’ well-being and treatment adherence in HIV management.

There are no known mHealth solutions available on app store platforms for PLWHA, except the BSmart Chart app. It has all the desirable features and functionalities, including the ability to connect with healthcare professionals and family and friends (known as Buddy) in real-time, where data reports can be shared, for discussion of therapy with simple visualization techniques.

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