mHealth: A project connecting and protecting pregnant and new mothers
Published: Mar 22, 2023 Reading time: 1 minuteThe People in Need (PIN) mobile health (mHealth) project team, together with technicians from health units in the Bié, Huambo and Huila provinces, Angola, has registered the phone numbers of pregnant women and their close relatives on the Unitel platform. Registration allows these women to receive voice messages on the care they should take during pregnancy and with their babies.
Emília Ngueve and her husband, Francisco França, listen to the messages, practice the orientations, and appeal to other pregnant women to join the programme.
Esmeralda Josefa Baltazar Raimundo, who began receiving messages from PIN when she was eight months pregnant, says that they helped her clarify all her doubts about maternal and child care.
The content of the messages aims to increase families' knowledge about health care, reduce the maternal-infant mortality rate, stimulate compliance with children's vaccination schedules, and encourage exclusive breastfeeding.
This project is funded by Unitel and has been developed by PIN in Angola since 2015; it works with pregnant and lactating women to reduce the maternal-infant mortality rate through calls and SMS that keep them informed about the care they should have during pregnancy and with newborns.
