Education & Awareness

mDhil is a for-profit company that provides basic health information via SMS as well as original health videos viewable on mobile phones. Based on grassroots surveys key health topics of interest in the general public were identified, including diabetes, maternal health and sexual health.

Zumbido used group mobile phone communication via SMS in order to provide support to those living with HIV/AIDS and faced with stigma and social discrimination. Overcoming this social isolation through communication with other persons faced with similar challenges can help to avoid further negative health effects, provide emotional support and improve treatment adherence.  

This project was launched in March 2011 with the aim to reach ethnic minotrity and underserved populations in remote areas of Vietnam. Key components include an mHealth information-education-communication (IEC) system to distribute culturally and linguistically appropriate health messages. The messages refer to sexual and reproductive health, non-communicable diseases and health insurance. The experiences and lessons learned from this pilot project will be used for a further expansion in the country.

The Mobile Midwife project in northeast Ghana is part of the ‘Mobile Technology for Community Health’ (MoTeCH) project. It aims to improve antenatal and neonatal care among the rural poor and to empower women to take control over their own health. Voice or text messages provide relevant health information during the pregnancy and encourage women to seek antenatal care. After the birth of the child information on essential vaccinations and the management of critical childhood diseases is sent. In addition, community health workers can keep electronic records and retrieve patient information using their mobile phone.

The new vaccination alert system will be connected to the 'Hospital Kiosks' where parents register the birth of their child. From March 2011, alerts on vaccination dates and details on their importance will be automatically sent to the mobile numbers of parents. Challenges to overcome in order to have complete data include the fact that people from remote areas will more likely refer to the nearest primary health centre.

An SMS-hotline was set up to provide quick, anonymous responses to a wide range of sexual education topics, including STDs and HIV/AIDS.

In Karnataka, India, a pilot project used FrontlineSMS technology to connect members of the HIV/AIDS population in a widespread rural area to improve service delivery and social support. Both professional outreach Workers as well as volunteer peer educators were employed in 2009 to travel to distant villages to educate female sex workers about the risk of HIV/AIDS and to promote safer sex practices. Referral Slips as well as daily reports were filled in and sent to the NGOs headquarter by using FrontlineSMS technology as opposed to paper forms, thus speeding up the exchange of information with its staff members in rural areas. The goal was to scale up the programme integrating experiences from the pilot.

A company spezialised in mobile game development released several mobile phone games to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and fight stigma and discrimination. The games were initially launched in India in 2005 and reached millions of mobile phone users in the country. The model has since been replicated in six African countries.

This proof-of-concept aimed to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a mobile application called CycleTel. It supplies the Standard Days Method (SDM) directly to a user's cell phone. SDM is a fertility awareness-based method that requires the user to avoid unprotected sex during days 8-19 of her menstrual cycle. The study results from Lucknow and Delhi fed into project adaption and the pilot project went live in April 2011. A case details how IRH worked with FrontlineSMS in a first step to scaling-up and to test the CycleTel concept before proceeding with product development.

Replicating a successful programme launched in India in 2005, an Indian company teamed up with other organizations to replicate its model in six African countries. Mobile phone games are used to help combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and fight stigma and discrimination. Two games were launched in 2006, both in English and local languages, Kiswahili and Shen.