A methodology to design low cost mobile applications for health for rural communities using participatory design and popular education

Most of the food consumed in Brazilian cities, as in other big urban spaces, is produced by family farming. The economic sustainability of these family communities depends on the range of primary health care. The rational use of medicinal plants is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an important element of healing practices and nutrition education. Mobile health applications can contribute to both the rational use of medicinal plants and herbal medicines as to the health sustainability of family farming communities, improving the quality of primary health care in ethnic and traditional communities and the preservation of popular knowledge. This paper proposes a methodology for the development of applications for mobile devices geared to popular health education based on participatory human-computer interface design and popular education, taking into account to improve the quality of basic health care by aiding communitary health agents and popular communities at health education for the rational use of medicinal plants. As a case study we developed a basic architecture and a prototype based on Android, from the results of participatory workshops in a rural area of the North Forest in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil. The participatory workshops were designed to promote the proposed methodology of combining participatory design and popular education.