Abstract

Hypertension is an increasingly prevalent and underdiagnosed non-communicable disease (NCD) in Uganda that 
contributes substantially to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Mobile health (mHealth), the use of mobile 
phones and related digital technologies to deliver health services and information, has emerged as a promising 
strategy to improve hypertension prevention, detection, treatment adherence, and follow-up in low-resource 
settings. This review synthesizes recent evidence on the burden of hypertension in Uganda; describes mHealth 
modalities used for hypertension (SMS, smartphone apps, telehealth, CHW-facilitated platforms, mobile money for 
medication access); evaluates effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility, implementation barriers, and enablers; and sets 
out priorities for research and scale-up. Evidence from Uganda and the wider sub-Saharan African (SSA) region 
shows high hypertension prevalence and low awareness/control, good acceptability of low-complexity mHealth 
(e.g., SMS, simple apps), encouraging outcomes from CHW-facilitated telehealth and pilot app projects, but 
persistent barriers including affordability, inconsistent connectivity, low digital literacy, fragmented service 
integration, and supply-chain/medication access. To translate pilot successes into population health impact, Uganda 
needs implementation research addressing cost-effectiveness, interoperability with health systems, human-centered 
design for low-literacy users, sustainable financing (including use of mobile money), and policy/regulatory 
frameworks that secure data privacy and service quality.