Saving mothers and newborns using RapidSMS

The Rwandan RapidSMS application was designed specifically to support maternal, neonatal and early child health at the community level and to save mothers and newborn lives. The tools help community health workers (CHWs) to track pregnant women, monitor antenatal care, identify and refer women at risk, and improve communication with health facilities in the case of emergencies. The system was also designed to help CHWs to identify and address reasons why women and young children die at the community level. The programme was initially modelled in the district of Musanze, with the plan for national scaling following the results of the model.