Healthcare providers’ awareness of a mobile-based app for disease classification in northwest Ethiopia: A multilevel logistic regression analysis

Adamu Takele Jemere, Tesfahun Melese Yilma, Lemma Derseh Gezie, Shegaw Anagaw Mengiste, Monika Knudsen Gullslett, Jens Johan Kaasbøll and Binyam Tilahun

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 5, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Mobile health (mHealth) apps improve healthcare providers’ accurate disease classification in resource-limited settings. Ethiopia recently introduced the National Health Data Dictionary (NHDD) mobile app for disease classification; however, healthcare providers’ awareness of it remains unknown. This study aimed to assess awareness of mobile-based disease classification apps among healthcare providers working in public health facilities in northwest Ethiopia and to determine the factors associated with this awareness. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 423 healthcare providers working at 19 public health facilities in northwest Ethiopia from October 1 to 25, 2023. Data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Awareness was defined as being aware of the existence of a mobile app (NHDD) for disease classification. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to account for clustering at the health facility level. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to identify associated factors. Results: Only 30.73% (95% CI: 26.30%−35.55%) of healthcare providers were aware of a mobile-based app for disease classification. Healthcare providers having social media accounts (AOR = 13.96; 95% CI: 2.33–83.64), ever visited the medical field by a mobile phone (AOR = 2.39; 95% CI: 1.03–5.51), digital literacy (AOR = 6.13; 95% CI: 1.50–25.01), awareness of the ESV-ICD-11 booklet on paper (AOR = 2.34; 95% CI: 1.06–5.18), and access to ESV-ICD-11 training or mentorship (AOR = 2.93; 95% CI: 1.25–6.87) were factors associated with awareness. Conclusions: About one-third of healthcare providers are aware of the mobile-based disease classification app. Social media use, digital literacy, prior mobile use for the medical field, familiarity with the paper-based ESV-ICD-11 booklet, and ESV-ICD-11 training or mentorship were associated factors with awareness. Targeted awareness creation interventions could be considered to support the success of mobile-based app implementation in Ethiopia.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0348362

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