Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations

There is an urgent need for improved and timely health and nutrition data. We developed and tested a smartphone application that caregivers from a pastoral population used to measure, record and submit high‐frequency and longitudinal health and nutrition information on themselves and their children....

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Main Authors: Jensen, Nathaniel D., Lepariyo, Watson, Alulu, Vincent, Sibanda, S., Kiage, B.N.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Wiley 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129247
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author Jensen, Nathaniel D.
Lepariyo, Watson
Alulu, Vincent
Sibanda, S.
Kiage, B.N.
author_browse Alulu, Vincent
Jensen, Nathaniel D.
Kiage, B.N.
Lepariyo, Watson
Sibanda, S.
author_facet Jensen, Nathaniel D.
Lepariyo, Watson
Alulu, Vincent
Sibanda, S.
Kiage, B.N.
author_sort Jensen, Nathaniel D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description There is an urgent need for improved and timely health and nutrition data. We developed and tested a smartphone application that caregivers from a pastoral population used to measure, record and submit high‐frequency and longitudinal health and nutrition information on themselves and their children. The data were assessed by comparing caregiver‐submitted measurements of mid–upper arm circumference (MUAC) to several benchmark data sets, including data collected by community health volunteers from the participating caregivers during the project period and data generated by interpreting photographs of MUAC measurements submitted by all participants. We found that the caregivers participated frequently and consistently over the 12‐month period of the project; most of them made several measurements and submissions in at least 48 of the 52 weeks of the project. The evaluation of data quality was sensitive to which data set was used as the benchmark, but the results indicate that the errors in the caregivers' submissions were similar to that of enumerators in other studies. We then compare the costs of this alternative approach to data collection through more conventional methods, concluding that conventional methods can be more cost‐effective for large socioeconomic surveys that value the breadth of the survey over the frequency of data, while the alternative we tested is favoured for those with objectives that are better met by high‐frequency observations of a smaller number of well‐defined outcomes.
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spelling CGSpace1292472025-12-08T09:54:28Z Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations Jensen, Nathaniel D. Lepariyo, Watson Alulu, Vincent Sibanda, S. Kiage, B.N. data livestock health nutrition information and communication technologies There is an urgent need for improved and timely health and nutrition data. We developed and tested a smartphone application that caregivers from a pastoral population used to measure, record and submit high‐frequency and longitudinal health and nutrition information on themselves and their children. The data were assessed by comparing caregiver‐submitted measurements of mid–upper arm circumference (MUAC) to several benchmark data sets, including data collected by community health volunteers from the participating caregivers during the project period and data generated by interpreting photographs of MUAC measurements submitted by all participants. We found that the caregivers participated frequently and consistently over the 12‐month period of the project; most of them made several measurements and submissions in at least 48 of the 52 weeks of the project. The evaluation of data quality was sensitive to which data set was used as the benchmark, but the results indicate that the errors in the caregivers' submissions were similar to that of enumerators in other studies. We then compare the costs of this alternative approach to data collection through more conventional methods, concluding that conventional methods can be more cost‐effective for large socioeconomic surveys that value the breadth of the survey over the frequency of data, while the alternative we tested is favoured for those with objectives that are better met by high‐frequency observations of a smaller number of well‐defined outcomes. 2023-07 2023-03-08T08:59:39Z 2023-03-08T08:59:39Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129247 en Open Access Wiley Jensen, N., Lepariyo, W., Alulu, V., Sibanda, S. and Kiage, B.N. 2023. Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations. Maternal and Child Nutrition
spellingShingle data
livestock
health
nutrition
information and communication technologies
Jensen, Nathaniel D.
Lepariyo, Watson
Alulu, Vincent
Sibanda, S.
Kiage, B.N.
Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations
title Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations
title_full Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations
title_fullStr Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations
title_short Assessing Mbiotisho: A smartphone application used to collect high‐frequency health and nutrition data from difficult‐to‐reach populations
title_sort assessing mbiotisho a smartphone application used to collect high frequency health and nutrition data from difficult to reach populations
topic data
livestock
health
nutrition
information and communication technologies
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/129247
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