Bridging Healthcare Barriers with mHealth: A Systematic Review of Tuberculosis Applications and their Limitations

Tuberculosis remains one of the most significant burdens for resource-constrained environments with limited healthcare supply, such as the Global South. However, factors such as the adoption of mobile phones create a favorable environment for mobile health technology, yielding a promising avenue for the development of the Global South through digital innovation. Previous studies, however, have not provided a comprehensive assessment of available tuberculosis applications and their features. To bridge this gap, we conducted a systematic review of existing tuberculosis applications to gain a deeper understanding of the current landscape. Our findings indicate that current tuberculosis apps have significant limitations, such as requiring an internet connection or being available in only one language. Our study contributes to extant research by presenting the first systematic analysis of tuberculosis applications and provides practical insights by highlighting areas of improvement that should be addressed in future app development.