Publications by authors named "Leonardo Vargas Bernal"
Article Synopsis
- Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a persistent global health issue with lengthy treatment and follow-up periods, leading to significant patient loss to follow-up and uncertainty about treatment effectiveness.
- A study in rural Colombia tested a mobile health (mHealth) intervention to track treatment adherence, side effects, and patient outcomes, finding that it significantly improved follow-up rates from 4.2% to 82.5% compared to standard care.
- Although patients and health workers found the app user-friendly and valuable for improving healthcare access, challenges like low connectivity impacted data transmission in real-time.
Background: In Latin America, cutaneous leishmaniasis primarily affects dispersed rural communities, that have limited access to the public health system and medical attention. Mobile health (mHealth) strategies have shown potential to improve clinical management and epidemiological surveillance of neglected tropical diseases, particularly those of the skin.
Methods: The Guaral +ST app for Android was designed to monitor cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment and assess therapeutic response.
Objectives: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a vector-borne parasitic disease whose lasting scars can cause stigmatization and depressive symptoms. It is endemic in remote rural areas and its incidence is under-reported, while the effectiveness, as opposed to efficacy, of its treatments is largely unknown. Here we present the data management plan (DMP) of a project which includes mHealth tools to address these knowledge gaps in Colombia.
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