Using a Mobile Phone to Improve Mother and Child Health

December 05, 2012

MAMA seeks to improve mother and child health through mobile phone messages

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English.

Different groups around the world are working to expand the uses for mobile technology in health care. Patricia Mechael is executive director of an organization called the mHealth Alliance.

"In the world, there are six billion mobile phone subscriptions in a population of seven billion people. And the most rapidly growing markets are those in developing countries. Africa, as a continent, you have widespread adoption, where three or four years ago the penetration rates were 20 percent or 30 percent, and now they're getting upwards of 60 percent in some countries."

She says a lot of work is being done to use mobile technology for mother and child health.

"Earlier work had been to look at mobile technologies and HIV and AIDS. And so we have some great evidence on the use of mobile for things like treatment adherence and compliance and care management."

More than 4,000 people from 50 countries have been meeting near Washington this week. The meeting is the fourth annual mHealth Summit. It brings together experts from what the organizers call the mHealth ecosystem. This includes nongovernmental organizations, governments and the technology industry.