review · South African journal of information management
Mobile health applications serve as vital instruments for healthcare delivery in disaster zones where standard infrastructure is compromised. A systematic examination of studies published between 2010 and 2025 highlights four dominant categories of tools: emergency medical services, health surveillance systems, resource coordination platforms, and telemedicine solutions. When deployed, these digital tools assist disaster response efforts by improving patient triage, tracking disease outbreaks, managing medical supplies, and enabling remote consultations between healthcare workers and victims. However, effective real-world implementation faces significant hurdles, including unstable network connectivity, poor system interoperability, missing standardised protocols, weak governance, and long-term sustainability concerns. Establishing structured governance frameworks and sustainable rollout strategies is necessary to optimise how software developers, policymakers, and emergency response teams utilise digital health interventions during humanitarian crises.
Natural disasters and emergencies frequently cripple local healthcare networks, isolating victims from essential medical attention. Mobile health tools provide a critical lifeline for triage, disease tracking, and resource allocation under severe conditions. Recognising both the capabilities and the operational obstacles of these applications allows humanitarian responders and health organisations to design more resilient crisis-response systems that save lives when normal infrastructure collapses.
The evidence synthesises existing, field-deployed tools including emergency triage apps, surveillance trackers, logistics platforms, and telemedicine systems used by emergency responders and healthcare providers. While individual solutions exist, commercialisation and widespread adoption remain impeded by technical barriers like poor connectivity and interoperability, alongside an absence of standardised operating protocols. The proposed governance framework provides developers and public health entities with operational parameters needed to build more sustainable, market-ready emergency response platforms.
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Background: Mobile health (mHealth) applications have emerged as powerful tools in healthcare delivery, particularly in disaster zones where infrastructure is compromised and conventional health systems are disrupted. Their ability to provide remote access, real-time communication and data-driven decision support makes them especially valuable in resource-constrained settings. Objectives: This systematic review analyses the current landscape of mHealth applications deployed in disaster settings, focusing on their categories, implementation challenges, governance frameworks and effectiveness in supporting victims and healthcare providers. Method: Peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2025 were systematically screened and analysed according to application type, operational outcomes, governance mechanisms and contextual challenges. Findings were synthesised to identify patterns of effectiveness, barriers to implementation and governance gaps. Results: Four main categories of mHealth tools were identified: emergency medical services, health surveillance systems, resource coordination platforms and telemedicine solutions. Evidence indicates that these applications enhance disaster response by improving triage, outbreak monitoring, supply coordination and remote consultation. Persistent challenges include poor connectivity, limited interoperability, the absence of standardised protocols, weak governance and sustainability issues. Conclusion: mHealth applications show considerable potential to strengthen healthcare delivery in disaster zones but require robust governance and sustainable implementation strategies to realise this potential. Contribution: The review contributes to the growing evidence on digital health in humanitarian crises and proposes a conceptual governance framework to guide policymakers, healthcare providers and developers in optimising mHealth use in disaster management.
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DOI: 10.4102/sajim.v28i1.2122
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