Re-engineering school healthcare services using mobile technologies, in the Eastern Cape

For children to benefit from education programmes, they need to be healthy. The provision of healthcare services in schools thus responds to the need of children but also increases the efficacy of other investments in child development, ensures better educational outcomes, achieves greater social equity and is a highly cost effective strategy. One such a strategy is South Africa's Integrated School Health Policy, which is a mechanism to improve the general health of school-going children as well as removing health barriers to learning, in order to improve education outcomes. The context in which the policy is implemented, however poses many challenges resulting in school health services not functioning in far-off schools in rural parts of the country of which the shortage of qualified nursing staff, lack of appropriate equipment and the remoteness of schools are contributing factors. In an attempt to find a solution to this problem, research into the use of technology as an alternative way to provide access to school healthcare services, are currently investigated. This paper shares how school nurses in rural Eastern Cape, use mobile devices with specific mobile applications, to improve access to healthcare and health education in schools.