Delivering mobile phone health information to women in developing countries.

Health in Your Hands

Content Consultants were invited to run a seminar on mobile phone health messages at the House of Lords in February 2012.

‘Health in your Hands: Creating mobile messages that make a difference’, brought together those involved in mhealth projects to share their results and experiences. Guests included those from phone companies, health insurers and the NHS.

Read more about the House of Lords event here

MAMA

The Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) is a new project which will harness the power of mobile technology to deliver vital health information to new and expectant mothers in low-resource countries.

Our plan is to supply important messages and reminders on mobile phones by creating an audio and SMS health programme. The messages will cover everything from reminders about the importance of seeing your midwife, to when it’s time for vital baby vaccinations. Other messages will cover what is safe and unsafe in pregnancy, as well as advice on what to eat and how to tell if you are in labour.

Working with BabyCenter, we will provide a set of open-source content tailored to the specific health issues of women and children in low resource communities.  By doing so, MAMA will be helping to fulfil the UN’s Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 – to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.

MAMA is a partnership between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Johnson & Johnson, with support from the United Nations Foundation, Health Alliance, and BabyCenter. The partnership was developed in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Department of State.

BabyCenter mobile

We have developed a personalised pregnancy programme which uses SMS and voice messaging in English and Hindi. The project was initially created for Delhi, but has now been rolled out to other countries in the developing world.  This health project has brought together BabyCenter content and mobile technology, allowing messages to be tailored to the stage of pregnancy. New and expectant mothers can register to receive free audio articles and SMS messages, timed to their baby’s due date, via their mobile phones.