Paper presented at the 2011 IFIP WG 9.4 conference in Kathmandu/Nepal

Title of the paper:
The impact of stakeholders' relation of the sustainability and scalability of mHealth projects in developing countries.

Abstract:
Various innovative mobile phone-based applications have already been developed to address some of the many health care service delivery challenges faced by developing countries. These innovative solutions have proven the potential mobile technologies and mobile health (mHealth) have in enabling and enhancing health care service delivery in such countries. However, the majority of these applications are not sustained and/or scalable. The interrelations between the various stakeholders involved in mHealth projects in developing countries can have an impact on the project’s dynamics and the extent to which the project becomes sustainable and scalable. Using stakeholder theory and Orlikowski’s technologies-in-practice model, this paper explores four mobile phone-based applications for HIV/AIDS care in three developing countries. The aim of the exploration has been to form an understanding of the impact of stakeholders’ relations on the sustainability and scalability of these initiatives. The findings indicate that there is a connection between stakeholders’ relations and a project’s sustainability and scalability objectives. The findings also indicate that stakeholders’ relations influence resource availability, the project’s dynamics and the extent to which a project becomes sustainable and scalable.