A design of a mobile health intervention to enhance home-carers' disposal of medical waste in South Africa

Abstract

The increase in chronic illnesses globally has sparked a need for home-based healthcare interventions. In the African context, home-carers play a preponderant role in addressing the shortage of trained healthcare professionals by providing primary healthcare services. These nursing care activities offered by the home-carers generate medical waste in homes. There is a need to be concerned about medical waste in homes because unlike healthcare facilities, homes are not meant to accommodate medical waste. Scanty literature in South Africa reveals that, there is improper management of medical waste in homes which poses health risks to the home carers, patients, community members and the environment. Hence, this paper presents a mobile technology-driven system designed to educate and stimulate home-carers' proper disposal of medical waste in South Africa. This paper firstly investigates the stakeholders involved in the dispensation of home-based care in the eThekwini health district of South Africa. Then the paper proposes a design of a mobile platform-enabled system that involves the identified stakeholders. The paper further presents the functionality of the system and its limitations. It is anticipated that this paper will contribute knowledge on how technology can contribute towards safe medical practices and a greener environment.