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Background The Nurse Assistant App (NAA) was developed to improve the quality of antenatal care in Magu District Tanzania by providing digital assistance to healthcare workers. The NAA guides healthcare workers step by step through all necessary antenatal care interventions and provides tailored advice and suggestions for follow-up actions. We used the Intervention Mapping framework to retrospectively evaluate the development of the NAA. Methods Desk research into the content, evidence base, and development of the NAA was performed combined with semi-structured interviews with two initial developers to fill in a planning tool consisting of 40 criteria for systematic evaluation of the data. Results Findings showed that the NAA was developed based on existing literature on antenatal care guidelines as well as the knowledge and experience of a broad variety of stakeholders and that five of the six steps of Intervention Mapping were performed. However, the development of the NAA lacked a theoretical foundation on behaviour change models. Future research will focus on the experiences of healthcare workers providing antenatal care using the NAA. Conclusions The NAA was developed in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and took practical matters as well as evidence from existing literature into account. However, we recommend that the responsibility and ownership of the NAA should be shared with the local government to increase the potential and sustainability of the NAA. Key messages The NAA was developed to improve the quality of antenatal care in rural Tanzania targeting healthcare workers. The current evaluation informs future digital health tool developers in sub-Saharan Africa about elements to take into account during the development phase such as systematic mapping of the process.

Background To reduce maternal mortality in rural Tanzania, the need to improve antenatal care remains an urgent priority. Digital health tools are seen as a promising instrument to increase the quality of healthcare in developing countries, but it remains unclear to what extent they are perceived as beneficial during the antenatal care visit. Therefore, the aim of this research was to identify factors that could improve the quality of antenatal care in rural Tanzania, and whether digital health tools would change healthcare workers' and pregnant women's perceptions of quality of care. Methods Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with sixteen healthcare workers and nineteen pregnant women, recruited from various health facilities in Magu District, Tanzania. Results Both healthcare workers and pregnant women possess a positive attitude towards antenatal care and acknowledge its importance. However, they also expressed a need for (structural) improvements in antenatal care services, particularly increased availability of diagnostic tests, and increased performance and motivation of healthcare workers. In addition, healthcare workers indicated a need for more training and better supervision. While both groups expected quality of care to increase should a digital health tool be implemented, they placed more focus on investing in health infrastructure, like the availability of medication and other materials, than investments in digital health. Conclusions Infrastructural improvements, including better communication between healthcare workers and pregnant women, as well as training opportunities and supportive leadership, are necessary before a digital health tool can be expected to increase the quality of antenatal care. Key messages Both healthcare workers and pregnant women acknowledged the need for higher quality antenatal care. Both groups suggested a number of infrastructural improvements, among which the use of a digital health tool.