Maternal and Women's Health

Design and Usability Testing of an mHealth Application for Midwives in Rural Ghana

Posted by EKStallings on Dec 20, 2011
Design and Usability Testing of an mHealth Application for Midwives in Rural Ghana data sheet 681 Views
Author: 
Vélez, Olivia
Publication Date: 
Jan 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

Midwives in Ghana provide the majority of rural primary and maternal healthcare services, but have limited access to data for decision making and knowledge work. Few mobile health (mHealth) applications have been designed for midwives. The study's purpose was to design and test an mHealth application (mClinic) that can improve data access and reduce the reporting burden for midwives at the Millennium Villages Project site in Ghana.

From the design science field, the Information Systems Research Framework guided this study through two research cycles: 1) Relevance, and 2) Design. The first phase of the Relevance Cycle took a user-centered approach to assess the people, organizations, and technology of the midwives’ environment through participant observation, contextual inquiry, and interviews. In the second phase, structured requirements specification was used to categorize the data into goals, system qualities, and constraints. From the categorized data, use cases were developed for patient registration, antenatal care, malaria, family planning, and referrals. Use cases then informed the development of functional requirements. In the Design Cycle, we first used functional requirements for patient registration and malaria to develop the mClinic prototype as part of a coded-in-country initiative. Next, we examined usability of the mClinic prototype by conducting field testing, heuristic evaluation, and usability surveys. Additionally, low-fidelity prototyping was used to determine applicability of the other use cases to the midwives’ environment.

Midwives reported inability to access critical data, high patient loads, and extensive reporting requirements. Low technical self-efficacy and inadequate infrastructure were identified as barriers to implementation. Heuristic evaluation noted issues related to hardware selection, workflow, and security. Midwives ranked the tool as useful in the usability survey; however, ease-of-use rankings were neutral. Interviews indicated this was related to low technical self-efficacy. Applicability checks found support for touch-entry prototypes over those that included lengthy forms or text-entry.

Featured?: 
No

FailFaire: What We Learned About Tech FAILs From The Latest FailFaire

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Dec 16, 2011

FailFaire – where it's okay to admit the mistakes. MobileActive hosted another round of FailFaire, bringing together practitioners, developers, donors, and students involved in the use of technology for social change development to discuss what's usually swept under the rug – project failure. The event is an open space to discuss those projects that went wrong in our field fostering a sense of learning from mistakes and knowledge sharing. The latest FailFaire in New York brought together eight practitioners to present their failed projects and what they learned along the way.  Take a look at this FastCompany article about the NYC FailFaire for some background. 

So, here we bring you...

mHealth: New Horizons for Health Through Mobile Technologies

Posted by EKStallings on Dec 16, 2011
mHealth: New Horizons for Health Through Mobile Technologies data sheet 490 Views
Author: 
Mechael, Patricia, Nadi Kaonga, and Hima Batavia, Lilia Perez-Chavolla
Publication Date: 
Jun 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

For the first time the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Observatory for eHealth (GOe) has sought to determine the status of mHealth in Member States; its 2009 global survey contained a section specifically devoted to mHealth. Completed by 114 Member States, the survey documented for analysis four aspects of mHealth: adoption of initiatives, types of initiatives, status of evaluation, and barriers to implementation. Fourteen categories of mHealth services were surveyed: health call centres, emergency toll-free telephone services, managing emergencies and disasters, mobile telemedicine, appointment reminders, community mobilization and health promotion, treatment compliance, mobile patient records, information access, patient monitoring, health surveys and data collection, surveillance, health awareness raising, and decision support systems.

The survey shows there is a groundswell of activity.  The majority of Member States (83%) reported offering at least one type of mHealth service. However, many countries offered four to six programmes. The four most frequently reported mHealth initiatives were: health call centres (59%), emergency toll-free telephone services (55%), managing emergencies and disasters (54%), and mobile telemedicine (49%). With the exception of health call centres, emergency toll-free telephone services, and managing emergencies and disasters, approximately two thirds of mHealth programmes are in the pilot or informal stage.

The survey results highlight that the dominant form of mHealth today is characterized by small-scale pilot projects that address single issues in information sharing and access. There were only limited larger mHealth implementations (primarily supported by public-private partnerships). While it is anticipated that large-scale and complex programmes will become more common as mHealth matures, strategies and policies that integrate eHealth and mHealth interoperability into health services would be wise. mHealth is no different from other areas of eHealth in its need to adopt globally accepted standards and interoperable technologies, ideally using open architecture. The use of standardized information and communication technologies would enhance efficiency and reduce cost. To accomplish this, countries will need to collaborate in developing global best practices so that data can move more effectively between systems and applications. 

 

 

 

Featured?: 
No

Scaling Up Mobile Health: Elements Necessary for the Successful Scale Up of mHealth in Developing Countries

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Dec 12, 2011
Scaling Up Mobile Health: Elements Necessary for the Successful Scale Up of mHealth in Developing Countries data sheet 565 Views
Author: 
Jeannine Lemaire
Publication Date: 
Dec 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

The use of mobile phones to improve the quality of care and enhance efficiency of service delivery within healthcare systems is known as mobile health, or mHealth, and is a sub-segment of the broader field of electronic health (eHealth). WHO has defined mHealth as the “provision of health services and information via mobile technologies such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).” mHealth tools have shown promise in providing greater access to healthcare to populations in developing countries, as well as creating cost efficiencies and improving the capacity of health systems to provide quality healthcare. 

Recent evidence from randomized scientific trials and studies has demonstrated that the capabilities of mobile phone technology, particularly SMS messaging, can positively impact treatment outcomes. Results of the WelTel Kenya1 clinical trial, the first study of its kind in Africa, were published in The Lancet in November of 2010. The trial focused on the impact of SMS messaging on HIV-infected adults starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) in three clinics in Kenya. The study showed that patients who received SMS support had significantly higher adherence to ART and higher rates of viral suppression when compared with patients in the control group. A scale up of such a mobile phone support system in Kenya could suppress viral loads in 26,000 extra people at the cost of less than USD 8 per person per year, according to Richard Lester of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and the study’s lead researcher. Another cluster-randomized trial at 107 rural facilities in Kenya found that SMS message reminders sent to health workers’ mobile phones improved and maintained their adherence to treatment guidelines for outpatient pediatric malaria in Kenya.

A multitude of mHealth solutions have emerged over the years in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, which are leading the way in using mobile health services, according to the Global Observatory for eHealth at the WHO. Getachew Sahlu of the WHO identified the convergence of the following factors as the driving force behind the current rapid mHealth growth in developing countries: (1) a record growth of mobile phone users, (2) rapid expansion of mobile networks, (3) the decline in mobile phone costs, and (4) the innovation in mobile technology. The mobile platform presents the unique capability of delivering healthcare services wherever people are—not just in healthcare facilities. mHealth initiatives have also been effective in reaching underserved populations, particularly those in rural areas, changing health behaviors and outcomes, and addressing a wide variety of healthcare challenges, including:

• The shortage of skilled healthcare workers in certain developing country settings
• Treatment adherence and compliance
• Lack of timely and actionable disease surveillance
• Poor drug inventory and supply chain management
• Use of counterfeit drugs
• Lack of medical diagnostic treatment
• Slow rates of information flow and reporting delays.

mHealth represents a cost-effective technology solution to many of these challenges if implemented correctly and brought to scale. The costs of mobile handsets and usage are declining as demand for mobile services increases and mobile networks are being rapidly expanded.

Featured?: 
No

Mobiles Phones for Health Worldwide: Moving From Hype to Context and Benefit

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Dec 09, 2011

We recently attended the mHealth Summit 2011 to learn more about the latest developments in the mobile health field. The conference brought together developers, practitioners, NGOs, representatives from corporate industries, and government officials to discuss the current state and future of mobile health. 

Several key trends emerged among the discussions, focusing on: local buy-in and capacity building, the importance of building partnerships and trust among communities, and the need to transition from short-term pilots to scalable, sustainable mHealth projects.

Scale, Sustainability, and Hype

There was a lot of discussion at the mHealth Summit 2011 about the number of failed pilot projects and the hype around mobile health.  More productively, there was considerable discussion on what steps can be taken to reduce the waste (including financial, time, and community good-will) that results from launching unusable, unscalable, or unsustainable mobile health projects. The honest assessment of challenges in the m-health field led to discussions about scalability and sustainability.

Calling It In: Awaaz.De Provides A Voice-Based Information Platform

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Nov 07, 2011

How can you share information across rural areas with limited or non-existent Internet connections? This is the question that Awaaz.De, an India-based organization that uses interactive-voice-response (IVR) systems to share information on mobile phones, is working to answer.

Co-created by Neil Patel and Tapan Parikh, both at the University of California at Berkeley, Awaaz.De is used by organizations to share information with voice as the primary channel. This could, for instance, take the form of a question and answer service, voice discussion forums, voice surveys, and automated calls.

Because of the open-ended structure of the Awaaz.De platform, the platform has been adapted by very different organizations. Labor Voices uses Awaaz.De to allow migrant workers to review jobs and employers in a voice database; the Development Support Centre uses the service to provide information to small-scale farmers as part of the Avaaj Otalo project (covered by MobileActive.org here), and Galli Galli Sim Sim (the Indian version of Sesame Street) uses the service to allow pre-school teachers to share teaching experiences and information about educational activities.

According to Patel in a post on the ICT 4 Community Health Worker discussion list, there are now eight organizations using Awaaz.De. These organizations have, together, produced more than 100,000 calls from about 10,000 unique callers. 

Calling It In: Awaaz.De Provides A Voice-Based Information Platform data sheet 1667 Views
Countries: India

Case Study for Incorporation of Mobile Technology in Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (Manoshi) Program at BRAC Health

Posted by EKStallings on Nov 02, 2011
Case Study for Incorporation of Mobile Technology in Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (Manoshi) Program at BRAC Health data sheet 862 Views
Author: 
ClickDiagnostics
Publication Date: 
Jan 2009
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

After extensive studies of BRAC’s health services for mothers, neonates and children in rural and urban areas (MNCH and Manoshi, respectively), ClickDiagnostics has developed a mobile phone-based solution for streamlining BRAC’s data collection procedures in Manoshi, enabling BRAC to take a more pro-active approach in strategizing and reaching the women most in need in the urban slums.



ClickDiagnostics is in the concluding stages of piloting thissolution jointly with BRAC, and after the completion of the project in January, will support BRAC in refining the model and scaling up for nationwide implementation in MNCH and Manoshi projects, and possibly also in BRAC Health’s other program.



One important reason why many pregnant mothers succumb to death or preventable miscarriages is that it is expensive for government or non-government health organizations to track pregnant mothers to assess their level of risk and prioritize its limited resources for targeted intervention. A model in which community health-workers use ICT to gather real-time information about pregnant women and send to a specialist can help to address this gap and help health organizations take precautionary measures about risky cases of pregnancies.

Featured?: 
No

UnNiched: Using Mobile Tech for Health Communications

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Nov 01, 2011

Making health initiatives more accessible through technology can help patients and doctors keep themselves better informed about health and wellness. On October 25th, The Path of the Blue Eye hosted unNiched: Scratch, Sniff and Learn, a short conference focusing on innovation in the health marketing and communications world. Fard Johnmar, one of the founders of the Path of the Blue Eye project, introduced all the speakers and explained that the event is about " really getting people together from different disciplines, so that they can learn from each other and improve health and wellness."

Seven organizations gave short presentations on their health and technology initiatives before the group broke out into smaller discussions and demonstrations. Three of the projects presented at unNiched with a mobile focus: MoTeCh, a program using mobile phones to connect community health workers and beneficiaries in Uganda; Ubiqi, a mobile tracking tool for patients with chronic disease; and InStrat, a personalized SMS health alert system. While introducing the mobile technology section of unNiched Johnmar said, "So mobile – you'll see in today's presentations and by interacting with our innovators – really means empowerment, education and finally, most important for me, behavior change."  Watch a short video featuring excerpts from the mobile UnNiched presentations below to see how the organizations are using mobile in their work, and read on for a description of each project.

Upgrading development: Can technology alleviate poverty?

Posted by EKStallings on Oct 26, 2011
Upgrading development: Can technology alleviate poverty? data sheet 874 Views
Author: 
Stuart, Emma Jackson
Publication Date: 
Sep 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

This report tackles ICT4D under three key headings: information, communication and participation. While not ignoring negatives, the report primarily explores, through the lens of Cambridge activities in ICT4D, the positive impacts and ongoing challenges of ICT4D: its ability to provide access to valuable information, to create meaningful two-way dialogues, to reach remote and excluded communities, and to empower the excluded to participate in their own development and societies.



There are still significant barriers preventing people in the Global South from accessing ICTs. But with the ongoing, rapid growth in mobile phone use and network connectivity across the world, the parameters are changing. We need to keep adapting to this environment in order to succeed. We must also ensure that the poorest and most disadvantaged are not left behind.



We have also seen challenges and progress that still need to be made in harnessing ICTs to achieve positive and lasting development outcomes. Technology can only ever be one ingredient in this process, but it can be a potent one. A key strength of ICT4D lies in the potential for participation, especially as technologies become more and more interactive.

Featured?: 
No

The Mobile Minute: Mobile Subscriptions Per Capita, Challenges to mHealth Projects, and the Importance of Password Protection

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Oct 13, 2011

Today's Mobile Minute brings you news about the decline of knock-off phones in China, mobile phone statistics in South Africa, the case for password protecting your mobile phone, challenges to mHealth projects in Africa, and new global mobile statistics.

  • A new article from the L.A. Times looks at the fall in popularity of shanzhai (knock-off) phones in China, as shanzhai phones now represent only 7% of the Chinese market, down from 20% in 2007. The article says that the trend for buying brand-name phones is due to the greater availability of low-cost smartphones, and a preference for high-end features in smartphones that the knock-offs can not replicate.
  • Nielsen Wire recently released a study on mobile use in South Africa, examining everything from network loyalty and social mobile use (such as downloading ringtones, wallpapers, and screensavers), to comparisons between mobile contracts and pre-paid phones and the use of SMS and mobile instant messaging services.
  • Do you password protect your phone? Read Write Web reports that more than half of smartphone owners surveyed by Confident Technologies do not lock and password protect their phones. If your phone is stolen, lost, or confiscated then all of your personal data (including contacts in the address book, emails saved in your inbox, and log-ins for social media sites like Twitter and Facebook) stored on your phone could be compromised; using a password makes this information harder to access.
  • PBS examines the hype around mHealth projects in the developing world, and whether mobile technologies are successful at managing health issues. The article looks at challenges to mHealth projects such as limited mobile access for beneficiaries, spotty network coverage, the high costs of large-scale projects, and the difficulty of maintaining charged phones.

Aarogyam ICT for Mother and Child Care

Posted by bexband on Sep 26, 2011
Aarogyam ICT for Mother and Child Care data sheet 283 Views
Author: 
Tiwari, Alok
Publication Date: 
Jul 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

‘Aarogyam’ is a Sanskrit word which means "complete freedom from illness”. Aarogyam is an ICT based responsive system which ensures and involves active participation of all key stakeholders viz. local administration, health facilities and doctors, frontline health workers (ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists), ANM (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife), and AWW (Angan Wadi Workers)), village heads and beneficiaries, to ensure that a pregnant woman is provided with ANC, PNC and complete immunization throughout the continuum of care.   Aarogyam maintains a village wise database of all the beneficiaries (pregnant/lactating women, children up to 5 years) of an area, which gets continually updated with new data generating on the field with the help of front line health workers. The database thus generated is the backbone of the software system used by Aarogyam. This system generates automated alerts in the form of vernacular voice calls/SMS to the beneficiary thus enabling the beneficiary with vital information at their door step.   The system not only provides beneficiary with the information to be acted upon but also ensures that the services are delivered to the beneficiary by generating automated alerts (vernacular voice calls/SMS) for the ANM and Block level health officials, informing them of due services in their area.  

 


Harvests of Development in Rural Africa: The Millenium Villages After Three Years

Posted by ccarlon on Sep 20, 2011
Harvests of Development in Rural Africa: The Millenium Villages After Three Years data sheet 252 Views
Author: 
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Publication Date: 
May 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

At the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration, committing nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and address pressing challenges of hunger, gender inequality, illiteracy, and disease. The year 2015 has been affirmed as the deadline for reaching these Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets.

 

The goal is to show how an integrated approach to community-level development can translate the international MDG agreements into ground-level breakthroughs throughout rural sub-Saharan Africa. Villages are located in deeply impoverished rural areas that were considered hunger hotspots—with at least 20% of children malnourished. Sites were selected to reflect a diversity of agro-ecological zones, representing a range of challenges to income, food production, disease ecology, infrastructure, and health system development.

 

The Millennium Villages Project is a ten-year initiative spanning two five-year phases. The first phase focuses on achieving quick wins, especially in staple crop production and disease control, and on establishing basic systems for integrated rural development that help communities escape the poverty trap and achieve the MDGs. The Project involves the coordinated community-led delivery of a locally tailored package of scientifically proven interventions for agriculture, education, health, and infrastructure. Over the first five-year phase, interventions are delivered at a modest cost, totaling approximately $120 per capita per year, of which MVP brings about half to complement funds from the host government, the local community, and other partners. The second five-year phase will focus more intensively on commercializing the gains in agriculture and continuing to improve local service delivery systems in a manner that best supports local scale-up.


The World Bank

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Sep 06, 2011

"The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Our mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors.
We are not a bank in the common sense; we are made up of two unique development institutions owned by 187 member countries: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

Each institution plays a different but collaborative role in advancing the vision of inclusive and sustainable globalization. The IBRD aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries, while IDA focuses on the world's poorest countries.

Organization Type: 
Government
State/Province: 
Washington, D.C.
City: 
Washington, D.C.
Country: 
USA

The Case of the Interdisciplinary Researcher: Using Mixed Methods to Observe ICT in Healthcare in Uganda

Posted by VivianOnano on Jul 26, 2011
The Case of the Interdisciplinary Researcher: Using Mixed Methods to Observe ICT in Healthcare in Uganda data sheet 1414 Views
Author: 
Densmore, Melissa R.
Publication Date: 
Oct 2010
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

While researchers are often depicted as either ‘social scientists’ or ‘technologists’ often their educational and ideological backgrounds are much richer than the two simple terms might imply.

This paper describes the methodology and approach of a qualitative researcher with a computer science background in investigating how information technology changes communications and information management practices within the health ecosystem constitutued by a health subsidy program in southwest Uganda.


mHealth: New Horizons for Health Through Mobile Technologies

Posted by kelechiea on Jun 17, 2011
mHealth: New Horizons for Health Through Mobile Technologies data sheet 1615 Views
Author: 
World Health Organization (WHO)
Publication Date: 
Jan 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

The use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives (mHealth) has the potential to transform the face of health service delivery across the globe. A powerful combination of factors is driving this change. These include rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications, a rise in new opportunities for the integration of mobile health into existing eHealth services, and the continued growth in coverage of mobile cellular networks.

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are now over 5 billion wireless subscribers; over 70% of them reside in low- and middleincome countries. The GSM Association reports commercial wireless signals cover over 85% of the world’s population, extending far beyond the reach of the electrical grid.

For the first time the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Observatory for eHealth (GOe) has sought to determine the status of mHealth in Member States; its 2009 global survey contained a section specifically devoted to mHealth. Completed by 114 Member States, the survey documented for analysis four aspects of mHealth: adoption of initiatives, types of initiatives, status of evaluation, and barriers to implementation. Fourteen categories of mHealth services were surveyed: health call centres, emergency toll-free telephone services, managing emergencies and disasters, mobile telemedicine, appointment reminders, community mobilization and health promotion, treatment compliance, mobile patient records, information access, patient monitoring, health surveys and data collection, surveillance, health awareness raising, and decision support systems.

 


Making Mobile Phones Work for Women with Fistula: The M-PESA Experience in Kenya and Tanzania

Posted by VivianOnano on Jun 06, 2011
Making Mobile Phones Work for Women with Fistula: The M-PESA Experience in Kenya and Tanzania data sheet 1364 Views
Author: 
USAID and Fistula Care
Publication Date: 
Jan 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

The Freedom from Fistula Foundation (FFF) in Kenya and Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) have taken great strides in reducing these barriers. Using a combination of mobile banking, public information, and free treatment, they have helped make fistula repair a reality for women who were previously excluded from care.


Mobiles for Women. Part 1: The Good.

Posted by MelissaUlbricht on May 11, 2011

A village in India last year banned unmarried women from using mobile phones for fear they would arrange forbidden marriages. The village council suspected young men and women were secretly calling one another to arrange to elope. Meanwhile, unmarried men could use mobile phones under parental supervision.

As mobile penetration increases across the developing world, the entry of mobile phones in the hands of women causes reactions. In many cases, mobile phone ownership empowers women in myriad ways: economic gains, increased access to information, greater autonomy and social empowerment, and a greater sense of security and safety.

But, there is a darker side. Targeting women with mobile phones can cause changes in gender dynamics and family expenditures and may relate to increases in domestic violence, invasion of privacy, or control by a male partner.

New Research! How MoTeCH Uses Mobiles for Maternal Health in Ghana

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on May 03, 2011

The Grameen Foundation recently released an in-depth report on the state of MoTeCH, a multi-part project that uses mobile technology to send pre- and post-natal health information to Ghanaians and allows community health workers to collect and share health data. Launched in July 2010 in the Upper East Region of Ghana, the system rolled out the next phase of the pilot in April 2011 in the Awutu Senya distract in the Central Region of Ghana. The report, "Mobile Technology for Community Health in Ghana: What It Is and What Grameen Foundation Has Learned So Far," takes an honest look at the progress and challenges the organization has faced while implementing a long-term, large-scale mHealth project.

Mobile Midwife

New Research! How MoTeCH Uses Mobiles for Maternal Health in Ghana data sheet 2954 Views
Countries: Ghana

SMART Diaphragm: Changing the Way Doctors Detect High-Risk Pregnancies

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Apr 22, 2011
SMART Diaphragm: Changing the Way Doctors Detect High-Risk Pregnancies data sheet 3107 Views

Pre-term births can result in dangerous deliveries for mothers and life-long medical problems for children. Currently, one in ten babies are born prematurely, but a new project called SMART Diaphragm is working to change this through an early detection system.

SMART Diaphragm is an early warning system for high-risk pregnancies. Pregnant women insert a sensor-enabled diaphragm that monitors changing collagen levels in the woman's cervix. The results are wirelessly transmitted via bluetooth-enabled phones to a cloud data storage system.

Basic Information
Organization involved in the project?: 
Project goals: 

The project goals were: Create an affordable, accessible way to identify problems in high-risk pregnancies before visible symptoms occur. Build a wireless monitoring system that works in both developed and developing regions.

 

Brief description of the project: 

Smart Diaphragm is an early warning system for high-risk pregnancies. Pregnant women insert a sensor-enabled diaphragm (the Smart Diaphragm), which monitors changing collagen levels in the woman's cervix, and the results are wirelessly transmitted via bluetooth-enabled phones to a cloud data storage system.

Target audience: 

Pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies for premature birth

Detailed Information
Length of Project (in months) : 
12
Status: 
Under Development
Anticipated launch date: 
2011 Oct
What worked well? : 

The team reports that the partnership between the group of bio-engineers and obstetricians trained for high-risk pregnancies resulted in a great deal of creative ideas as the groups brought different backgrounds and skill sets to the team. They also found that using the sensor-enabled diaphragm worked well as many women were already familiar with the device as a means of contraception, and thus could insert and remove it themselves without needing a physician's help.

What did not work? What were the challenges?: 

One challenge the group has faced is getting the product ready for control testing as it's very difficult to clinically study devices in pregnant women; the measures taken for safety are extremely high so as not to hurt the mother or fetus, and the pregnancy only lasts a finite amount of time.


Smart Diaphragm

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Apr 21, 2011

Smart Diaphragm is an early warning system for high-risk pregnancies. Pregnant women insert a sensor-enabled diaphragm, which monitors changing collagen levels in the woman's cervix, and the results are wirelessly transmitted via bluetooth-enabled phones to a cloud data storage system.

Organization Type: 
Educational
Address: 
University of California
State/Province: 
CA
City: 
San Francisco
Country: 
USA

Mobile Technology for Community Health in Ghana

Posted by MarkWeingarten on Apr 15, 2011
Mobile Technology for Community Health in Ghana data sheet 1726 Views
Author: 
Grameen Foundation
Publication Date: 
Mar 2011
Publication Type: 
Report/White paper
Abstract: 

Grameen Foundation’s experience of designing and implementing a mobile health program in Ghana can provide insights for the broader field and specific projects that are in early phases of planning and implementation. A fundamental tenet of Grameen Foundation’s work is to share information broadly, from program designs to management plans to source code to lessons learned - both successes andfailures. To that end, this document is intended to provide:

1) A comprehensive overview of the Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) project in Ghana and how it works.

2) An insight into strategic decisions and design approaches made by the project team throughout the course of the implementation.

3) Information on lessons learned during the project and implications of decisions on future scale.


Winners of Vodafone Awards Showcase mHealth Innovations

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Apr 14, 2011

On Monday, Vodafone and the mHeatlh Alliance announced the winners of the Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project and the mHealth Alliance Award. Although all three winning projects focus on health applications of mobile technology, each project has an entirely different focus: in first place, NETRA uses a clip-on device for mobile phones to quickly diagnose eye disorders; in second place, SMART Diaphragm monitors high-risk pregnancies by wirelessly transmitting information to physicians; and in third place is Cool Comply, a system designed for community health workers to keep medications cool and to allow them to stay in contact with patients.

Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) Ghana

Posted by jasonhahn on Apr 06, 2011
Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) Ghana data sheet 3502 Views

MOTECH in Ghana has developed two interrelated mobile health services:

“Mobile Midwife” application: This service enables pregnant women and their families to receive SMS or voice messages that provide time-specific information about their pregnancy each week in their own language. This information is a mixture of: Alerts and reminders for care seeking (e.g., reminders to go for specific treatments, such as prenatal care or a tetanus vaccination). Actionable information and advice to help deal with challenges during pregnancy (e.g., tips for saving money for transportation to deliver at a health facility, what is needed for a birthing kit, nutrition information). Educational information, including milestones in fetal development, promotion of good health practices, and songs about breastfeeding. Voice messages are delivered in English or local languages. Two languages of the Upper East Region, Kasem and Nakam, were supported for MOTECH’s first implementation, and two languages of central region, Senya and Fante, will be supported in Awutu Senya. SMS messages are all delivered in English.

Basic Information
Organization involved in the project?: 
Project goals: 

The project aims to determine how to use mobile phones to increase the quantity and quality of prenatal and neonatal care in rural Ghana, with a goal of improving health outcomes for mothers and their newborns.

Brief description of the project: 

Can information delivered over a mobile phone improve someone’s health? Can it improve the quality of care received in a rural clinic? The Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) initiative in Ghana is a partnership between Ghana Health Service, Grameen Foundation and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the project aims to determine how to use mobile phones to increase the quantity and quality of prenatal and neonatal care in rural Ghana, with a goal of improving health outcomes for mothers and their newborns. The MOTECH system was launched in July 2010 in the Upper East Region; a replication in Awutu Senya district in Central Region will happen in April 2011. Further opportunities for scale across Ghana will be assessed in the second half of 2011. If successful, it is intended that MOTECH will be launched nationally in Ghana, and that this will become a showcase for replications throughout Africa and the world. The software system used in Ghana is available via OpenSource license and can be used for implementing a wide range of mobile health applications.

Target audience: 

Expecting and New Parents

Detailed Information
Status: 
Ongoing
Display project in profile: 
0

Grameen Foundation

Posted by jasonhahn on Apr 06, 2011

At Grameen Foundation our goal is simple – we want to see poor people, especially the poorest and those living in harder to reach areas, have access to microfinance and technology and as a result of access to these services, move themselves out of poverty. We envision a world where the poor have broken the generational chain of poverty and lead lives of respect, dignity and opportunity. Grameen Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC with an office in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1997 by friends of Grameen Bank to help microfinance practitioners and spread the Grameen philosophy worldwide. We share the ideas of 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus. Grameen Foundation and Grameen Bank are independent organizations and have no financial or institutional links.

Organization Type: 
NGO
Address: 
1101 15th Street, 3rd Floor
State/Province: 
DC
City: 
Washington
Country: 
USA
Postal code: 
20005

Up Close and Personal with TulaSalud's m-Health work in Guatemala

Posted by MohiniBhavsar on Mar 09, 2011
Up Close and Personal with TulaSalud's m-Health work in Guatemala data sheet 3013 Views

Mohini Bhavsar was a summer 2010 research intern at MobileActive.org. Shortly after, she volunteered with TulaSalud in Guatemala to observe what it takes to implement and scale a mobile health program.

Innovation in mobile health is not quite as widespread in Latin America as it is in Africa and Asia. Of the m-health programs in Latin America, little sharing of region-specific strategies has taken place.

TulaSalud is an organization based in Guatemala that is leveraging ICT -- specifically mobile phones -- to improve the delivery of health care services for indigenous communities. Through this case study, we hope to share some of what TulaSalud has learned over the years. 

TulaSalud partners with the Ministry of Health and the Cobán School of Nursing and receives support from the Tula Foundation based in Canada. The organization's vision is to use ICT and mobile technology to reduce maternal and infant mortality and to monitor disease outbreaks in the remote highlands of Alta Verapaz. Using mobile phones, TulaSalud has been able to improve the flow of information between health professionals based in hospitals and community health workers (CHWs) in remote villages.

Alta Verapaz has the largest rural and poor indigenous population in the region with limited access to health care services. In an area with one million inhabitants, 93% are indigenous and share the highest burden of maternal mortality.

TulaSalud's community health workers, known as tele-facilitadores, use mobile phones to:

Basic Information
Organization involved in the project?: 
Project goals: 

In partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Coban School of Nursing and with support from the Tula Foundation in Canada, TulaSalud leverages ICT and mobile technology to reduce maternal and infant mortality and monitor disease outbreaks in the remote highlands of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. 

Brief description of the project: 

Using mobile phones, TulaSalud has been able to improve the flow of information between health professionals in hospitals and community health workers attending to patients in remote villages.

Community health workers are using the mobiles provided by TulaSalud in the following ways:

  1. To seek remote decision-making support from physicians and specialists in urban centers
  2. To receive calls from people seeking care
  3. To organize logistics and transportation for emergencies with other tele-facilitadoras and Tula attendants at the hospitals
  4. To follow-up with Tula attendants at hospitals to ensure their referred patients received care

The NGO takes advantage of the mobile phone in these ways:

  1. Monitors disease outbreaks in real-time based on data aggregated from patient consultations using EpiSurveyor
  2. Sends text message alerts and reminders using FrontlineSMS to community workers
  3. Delivers remote health trainings via mobile phone-based audio conferencing
Target audience: 

Rural indigenous communities in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

Detailed Information
Length of Project (in months) : 
3
Status: 
Ongoing
What worked well? : 
  • Having strong local IT capacity.
  • Working closely with Ministry of Health, Guatemala.
  • Simple and easy-to-use forms, based on paper-forms that CHWs are already familiar with.
  • Many telefacilitators already have knowledge of community level health issues (previously trained as midwives or community health workers).
  • Telefacilitators use the calling capability of the phone to consult doctors at the TulaSalud office for diagnostic support. The mobile phone plans have 1000 minutes and network to network calling is free. This reduces costs substantially.
  • Digitizing data at the community level through the mobile phone reduced reporting time from 40 days to 4 days. 
  • Distance health training delivered by linking mobile phone to audio conferencing device.
What did not work? What were the challenges?: 
  • Signal issues in some areas required telefacilitators to walk 20-25 minutes from homes. This could be a demotivator.
  • Currently, only one physician has access to the data aggregated in EpiSurveyor. For expansion, the organization needs to develop an organized system of sharing.
  • With Episurveyor, data is downloaded manually into Excel, then to Access, where it is analyzed. This is a slow process with too many steps and is not ideal for expansion.
  • With EpiSurveyor, web-based analysis tools are weak and only for fixed form entries. All analysis is done in internal Access database.
  • There is a need to strengthen the referral processes; it is call-based and does not yet integrate with data coming through EpiSurveyor or directly with Tula's web-based records system.