Home follow-up after cesarean with a CHW smartphone tool in rural Rwanda
mHealth-Community Health Worker tool for comprehensive post-cesarean follow-up in rural Rwanda
A smartphone app for community health workers to check and photograph surgical wounds at home for women after cesarean birth in rural Rwanda.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chapel Hill, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11394914 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you have a cesarean birth, a trained community health worker (CHW) would visit you at home on postoperative days 5 and 10 using a smartphone tool. The app will include a photo-based surgical site infection (SSI) algorithm that works on the phone without needing internet or cell service. Developers will design the tool with CHWs and test whether CHWs find it easy and acceptable to use. The project will pilot the tool with a group of CHWs before wider use.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Women who have had a cesarean delivery in rural Rwanda and live in areas served by participating community health workers are the intended candidates.
Not a fit: Women who did not have a cesarean, live outside the project catchment area, or cannot be reached by participating CHWs are unlikely to benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could make safe home-based follow-up feasible, reduce travel burdens and costs, and help catch wound problems earlier.
How similar studies have performed: Photo-based SSI tools and mHealth programs for CHWs have shown promise in low-resource settings, but running an SSI algorithm offline on phones and integrating it into CHW home visits is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Chapel Hill, United States
- Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill — Chapel Hill, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany — Univ of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- Study coordinator: Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.