Digital Health Records and HIV Management Among Smallholder Women Farmers in Cameroon: A Two-Year Follow-Up Study

Digital health records (DHRs) have emerged as a promising tool for improving healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings, including sub-Saharan Africa. In Cameroon, smallholder women farmers are disproportionately affected by HIV and other chronic diseases due to socio-economic factors and limited access to healthcare services. A mixed-method approach was employed, combining quantitative data from electronic health records (EHR) with qualitative interviews and focus groups to explore changes in healthcare utilization and patient outcomes. During the follow-up study, there was an increase of 20% in HIV-related test uptake among DHR users compared to non-users. The integration of DHRs into routine healthcare services significantly improved HIV management practices among smallholder women farmers by enhancing patient engagement and timely access to care. Further implementation should include training for healthcare providers on EHR use, as well as ongoing support to maintain user compliance and data quality. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.