Regina Valiullina

Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed upon by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in 2000, which aimed at reducing world poverty, increasing the rate of development and improving global health.

Goal 4 was set up to reduce child mortality and Goal 5 was set up to improve maternal health.

According to World Health Organization, achieving Goal 4 on reducing child mortality requires universal coverage with key effective, affordable interventions including: care for newborns and their mothers; infant and young child feeding; vaccines; prevention and case management of pneumonia, diarrhea and sepsis; malaria control; and prevention and care of HIV/AIDS. Introduction of automated systems for patients such as SMS reminders about an appointment, an examination or a vaccination can greatly improve quality and efficiency of medical care.

Several examples illustrate the various uses for mobile health including: reducing child mortality and protecting mothers project in Oman; Mobile Phones for Integrated Health and Early Childhood Care and Development in Kenya; and Text4baby in the USA.

Through the sharing of data between hospitals, women have the option to choose the hospital where to give birth without depending on the hospital of their residence. With the latest e-services, in some countries women can access the information pre-natal to post-natal phase when they are able to view and add information to the child’s eHealth record, for example, the My Child’s eHealth Record mobile app in Australia.

Another program to raise awareness about health relies on voice calls to bring health services to illiterate populations. The “MOTHER” in India is a mobile-based voice health alert tool to reach rural women without basic literacy.