Towards Enhancing Access of HIV/AIDS Healthcare Information in Tanzania: Is a Mobile Application Platform a Way Forward?
Nelson Mandela – African Institution of Science and Technology, P. O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania., Ibrahim Abdallah Mwammenywa, Shubi Felix Kaijage · International Journal of Information Technology and Computer Science · 2018
This survey study evaluates the peoples' acceptance and comfortability on accessing the HIV/AIDS healthcare information through visiting HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Centers (CTCs).Furthermore, the survey examines whether a mobile application platform can be the way forward towards enhancing HIV/AIDS healthcare information delivery in Tanzania.This study was conducted in Dar es Salaam city in Tanzania.The structured questionnaire-based survey was carried-out involving a total of 208 respondents, among them, 45 were the HIV/AIDS healthcare practitioners.The collected data were analyzed by using WEKA and Python computer programming software.The study findings indicated that: 24.5% of the respondents claimed that they were not comfortable going to HIV/AIDS CTCs indicating that they were afraid of being exposed and stigmatized; almost one-third (31.3%) of respondents prefer to seek HIV/AIDS related information from online sources; 78.5% of respondents preferred to have an official mobile application for access the HIV/AIDS healthcare information; 64.4% of HIV/AIDS practitioners indicated the need of having a mobile application platform for HIV/AIDS healthcare information delivery; and more than two-third of HIV/AIDS practitioners claimed to be able to serve people with HIV/AIDS healthcare information online.It is concluded that there is a need for the HIV/AIDS healthcare providers to have a mobile application platform for HIV/AIDS healthcare information delivery.The mobile application platform will consequently help people to confidentially access the HIV/AIDS healthcare information in their mobile electronic gadgets frequently without fear of being exposed as if they would frequently visit CTCs. Index Terms-HIV/AIDS, Mobile Health (m-health), Mobile Application, HIV/AIDS Healthcare Information, Online HIV/AIDS Healthcare Information.Towards Enhancing Access of HIV/AIDS Healthcare Information in Tanzania:Is a Mobile Application Platform a Way Forward?