Is The Mobile Phone Technology Feasible For Effective Monitoring Of Defecation Practices In Ghana The Case Of A Peri-Urban District In Ghana

Background The world leaders have decided to increase the sanitation coverage in areas of with poor access and monitor the progress. However data collection via existing paper-based monitoring and evaluation M 26 E survey tools has limitations including the approach used in Ghana. Therefore there is the need to test new innovative M 26 E tools for monitoring sanitation practices. Objective To compare a mobile phone short messaging service SMS M 26 E survey tool with a paper based format in a rapidly expanding peri-urban setting of Prampram Ghana. Methods Four hundred and fifty-eight adults with access to a mobile phone were purposely selected. Next they were randomly assigned to the group using SMS or the group reporting on sanitation practices through a paper-based survey method. Respondents were asked to answer 5 questions on sanitation practices once every quarter over a one-year period. Non-responders were interviewed to ascertain reasons for non-response. A subset of 227 respondents were interviewed to obtain information on acceptability ease of use and level of privacy of the two M 26 E survey tools. Results Respondents from this study found the mobile phone SMS M 26 E survey tool to be feasible although the tool was unacceptable not user friendly and offered a low level of privacy as compared to the paper tool. Conclusions The mobile phone SMS M 26 E tool cannot replace paper-based tool for sanitation M 26 E in Ghana. Further studies could examine alternative mobile phone applications for example the use of pictorial mobile phone technology for data collection among low-literacy populations.