After Regina learned she was pregnant, she was ecstatic about the new addition to her family, but she had the same questions that all new mothers have. What’s happening to my body? What are those movements in my abdomen? Why do I feel so nauseous all the time? But Regina, who lives in Ghana, doesn’t have the luxury of searching the Web for answers.
“I used to think that health information could only be accessed from the hospital or from our grandmothers,” she says. But using the Mobile Midwife phone application helped her learn what she wanted to know quickly and easily.
Mobile Midwife – offered by Grameen Foundation in partnership with Ghana Health Service as part of our mobile health program called MOTECH – aims to promote healthy pregnancies and children by encouraging women to seek pre- and postnatal care; debunking myths about pregnancy and childbirth; and offering advice on such topics as delivery, breastfeeding, immunization and nutrition. Women also receive tips on avoiding malaria and managing pregnancy-related costs.
“The messages I receive from Mobile Midwife have made me understand that the movements I feel in my stomach are not labor pains but the baby kicking,” Regina says. “I was also made to understand that some of the minor illnesses and strange signs that I experience are normal.”
Another application allows nurses to also use mobile phones to keep accurate prenatal patient records, simplifying their record-keeping processes and enabling them to spend more time with patients. After a nurse enters information about the care a person has received, the system calculates when the next appointment is due and sends reminders to patients until they return for care. Nurses also receive alerts when patients are overdue for appiontments so they can follow up to ensure continuity of care.
Regina says Mobile Midwife has helped keep her very informed about her pregnancy. “Initially I was worried about my health and my pregnancy. Now Mobile Midwife has made it easy for me to access much-needed health information.”
You can learn more about MOTECH and Mobile Midwife by watching this video.