maternal and child health
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.
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
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.
Posted by LeighJaschke on Sep 10, 2009
MoTeCH: mHealth Ethnography Report data sheet 1566 Views
Author:
Mechael, Patricia N.; Dodowa Health Research Center
Abstract:
The number of mobile phone subscriptions has increased by approximately one billion between the end of 2007 and the end of 2008 (ITU, 2009). At the beginning of 2009, the number has surpassed four billion. With this, the use of mobile phones and networks in the mobile health has become increasingly popular in low- and middle-income countries, including Ghana where a broad range of mHealth initiatives are now being implemented.
This offers many opportunities to translate information and communications technology into gains, particularly for fighting disease and improving population health. This mHealth Ethnography serves as a critical entry point to both assess the initial state of information, communication, and mobile phone use for maternal and newborn health both within the health sector and the general population in the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
Key study findings illustrate that there is a strong foundation upon which the MoTECH Project can build to advance the use of mobile telephony to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals for health. These can be divided into two broad categories – those within the health sector and those that extend services to target beneficiaries in the general population.
