TY  - JOUR
AU  - Holst, Christine
AU  - Isabwe, Ghislain Maurice Norbert
AU  - Sukums, Felix
AU  - Ngowi, Helena
AU  - Kajuna, Flora
AU  - Radovanović, Danica
AU  - Mansour, Wisam
AU  - Mwakapeje, Elibariki
AU  - Cardellichio, Peter
AU  - Ngowi, Bernard
AU  - Noll, Josef
AU  - Winkler, Andrea Sylvia
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/9/22
TI  - Development of Digital Health Messages for Rural Populations in Tanzania: Multi- and Interdisciplinary Approach
JO  - JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
SP  - e25558
VL  - 9
IS  - 9
KW  - digital health
KW  - eHealth
KW  - mHealth
KW  - Tanzania
KW  - health education
KW  - HIV/AIDS
KW  - tuberculosis
KW  - cysticercosis
KW  - tapeworm
KW  - anthrax
KW  - mobile phone
AB  - Background: Health workers have traditionally delivered health promotion and education to rural communities in the Global South in paper leaflet formats or orally. With the rise of digital technologies, health promotion and education can be provided in innovative and more effective formats, which are believed to have a higher impact on disease prevention and treatment. Objective: The aim of this tutorial is to illustrate how a multi- and interdisciplinary approach can be applied in the design process of digital health messages for use in the Global South. Methods: The multi- and interdisciplinary team of the Non-discriminating access for Digital Inclusion (DigI) project digitalized and customized available government-approved paper-based health promotion messages into a screen-suitable format. The team worked closely together and used its diverse expertise to develop digital health messages with disease-specific content in Tanzania’s national language (Swahili) as well as English. The development process included the following phases: a local needs assessment; identification of government-approved health promotion materials in a nondigital format; identification of key health messages; creation of a practical and engaging story, easy to understand for the general public; drafting of a storyboard for an animated video with review, feedback, and revisions; forward and backward translation; audio recording of the story in both languages; finalization and presentation of the animations; development of relevant questions related to the health messages in each domain; and development of web and mobile apps to access the digital health messages. Results: Between 2017 and 2019, we developed key health messages, quizzes, and animated health videos to address HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Taenia solium cysticercosis and taeniasis, and anthrax, all of which are of public health importance in Tanzania. Feedback from local stakeholders and test users was included in various phases of the process. The 4 videos and other content are available in local information spots on a digital health platform (DigI platform), established by the DigI project, in both Tanzanian Swahili and English. Conclusions: Our methodological multi- and interdisciplinary approach ensures that the digital health messages for the public are clear, high quality, and align with the government’s objectives for health promotion. It also demonstrates the diversity of scientific disciplines required when collaborating on a digital health project. We recommend this approach to be applied to the development of other digital health messages for a wide range of diseases. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/25128 
SN  - 2291-5222
UR  - https://mhealth.jmir.org/2021/9/e25558
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/25558
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34550081
DO  - 10.2196/25558
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/25558
ER  -