Introduction: Evidence in favor of mHealth for healthcare delivery in settings where trained health workforce
is limited or unavailable is accumulating. With rapid growth in access to mobile phones and an
acute shortage of health workforce in Bangladesh, mHealth initiatives are increasing with more than
20 current initiatives in place. “Readiness” is a crucial prerequisite to the successful implementation of
telehealth programs. However, systematic assessment of the community readiness for mHealth-based
services in the country is lacking. We report on a recent study describing the influence of community
readiness for mHealth of a rural Bangladesh community.
Methods: A conceptual framework for mHealth readiness was developed, which included three categories:
technological, motivational and resource readiness. This guided the questionnaire development
for the survey conducted in the Chakaria sub-district of Bangladesh from November 2012 to April 2013.
Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine ownership of mobile phones, use of the technology,
and knowledge regarding awareness of mHealth services as predictors of the community readiness to
adopt mHealth.