Mobile based HIV patient identification for antiretroviral drugs dispensing
Date
2014
Authors
Sang, Jonah Mwogi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
HIV/AIDs remain highly prevalent among persons in developing countries. Despite the government of Kenya’s efforts to fight the epidemic, numerous challenges keep arising that counter its efforts. One notable challenge is patient identification among HIV patients especially those who receive antiretroviral drugs and are put on nutritional supplements.
The inability to identify patients appropriately can lead to fatal errors in patient health care. We need to identify a suitable method to identify patients especially those in critical care programs like HIV where patients evade the identification process by not turning with their identification cards and claiming to be new patients calling for a fresh registration or using another patient’s card so as to obtain nutritional supplements. This leaves the ARV drug dispensing faced with the challenge of issuing drugs to patients who are not intended.
In this study, we propose a mobile based solution and develop a suitable HIV patient identification system using biometric fingerprint technology to aid in curbing misidentification of patients. To achieve this, a patient’s fingerprint is scanned on enrolment and stored on a remote database. Identification and verification of the patient is then done on subsequent visits by having their fingerprint scanned, processed and associated with existing records. Artificial neural network is employed to link a fingerprint to a patient’s stored fingerprint record by association. Finally, the application is then tested by 8 clinical staff and 5 developers who then provided their feedback on its suitability for HIV patient identification.
Description
Partial fulfillment for award of the degree of Master of Science in Mobile Telecommunications and Innovation at Strathmore University.