Last modified: 2010-08-30
Abstract
HIV/AIDS is responsible for a drastic increase in South Africa’s mortality rate. The high number of people infected by HIV/AIDS makes it difficult for government to provide healthcare services to those living with the epidemic, especially those in rural or remote areas. However, South Africa has adapted well to mobile technology and is one of the African countries with the highest number of active mobile users. Moreover, mobile phones have demonstrated to have a tremendous potential in developing nations by becoming the central knowledge exchange catalyst due to its portability, features and accessibility. In spite of one or other limitation, accessing the World Wide Web (WWW) through a mobile phone is becoming more ubiquitous and it creates the same experience as if one is accessing it through a desktop or any other high end terminal. This study was aimed at finding ways in which the mobile web can be used to improve HIV/AIDS patients’ experience as well as the way healthcare services are delivered to them. This investigation was particularly focused in peri-urban communities within the Western Cape. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for data analysis and a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gather the necessary “knowledge” about the needs of patients in these communities. This paper concluded that the use of mobile web would signify in an improvement in the healthcare services delivery system of government and other institutions working in the area of HIV/AIDS.