TY - JOUR T1 - mHealth innovations as health system strengthening tools: 12 common applications and a visual framework JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 160 LP - 171 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-13-00031 VL - 1 IS - 2 AU - Alain B Labrique AU - Lavanya Vasudevan AU - Erica Kochi AU - Robert Fabricant AU - Garrett Mehl Y1 - 2013/08/01 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/1/2/160.abstract N2 - This new framework lays out 12 common mHealth applications used as health systems strengthening innovations across the reproductive health continuum. The rapid proliferation of mHealth projects—albeit mainly pilot efforts—has generated considerable enthusiasm among governments, donors, and implementers of health programs.1 In many instances, these pilot projects have demonstrated conceptually how mHealth can alleviate specific health system constraints that hinder effective coverage of health interventions. Large-scale implementation or integration of these mHealth innovations into health programs has been limited, however, by a shortage of empirical evidence supporting their value in terms of cost, performance, and health outcomes.1-4 Governments in low- and middle-income countries face numerous challenges and competing priorities, impeding their ability to adopt innovations.2 Thus, they need robust, credible evidence about mHealth projects in order to consider mHealth alongside essential health interventions, and guidance about which mHealth solutions they should consider to achieve broader health system goals.2 Their tolerance for system instability or failure can be low, even when the status quo may be equally, or more, unreliable. Current larger-scale effectiveness and implementation research initiatives are working to address the evidence gaps and to demonstrate the impact of mHealth investments on health system targets.1 Other efforts are underway to synthesize such findings.5 Recent mHealth reviews have proposed that innovators focus on the public health principles underlying mHealth initiatives, rather than on specific mHealth technologies.6 International agencies and research organizations have also endeavored to frame mHealth interventions within the broader context of health system goals or health outcomes.2 The term “health system” includes all activities in which the primary purpose is to promote, restore, or maintain health.7 Some elements of a framework for evaluating health systems performance by relating the goals of the health system to its essential functions have … ER -