mHealth for RMNCH

mHealth is the use of mobile phone technology to increase access to health-related knowledge and services. mHealth programs take advantage of the mobile phone’s ability to reach people at all levels of society in both urban and rural communities, regardless of education level, gender, or income. Within Africa the mobile phone has become almost universal, making mHealth applications an important tool with which to have an impact on the health of Africans. When applied correctly, mHealth can improve family planning and other reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) outcomes by streamlining payments for services, providing up-to-date family planning and RMNCH information to clients, and helping health workers collect data and provide counseling.

Definition from mHealth compendium Volumes One, Two, and Three. Each volume of the mHealth Compendium provides a basic overview of mHealth as well as case studies of a variety of interventions, from behavior change communication to finance, data collection, and service delivery.

Mobile Money

Advantages of using mobile payments:

1. Rapid, timely, and reliable payments to individuals
2. Improved security in managing, sending, and receiving payments
3. Improved efficiency and reduced administrative costs
4. Improved oversight and financial management; enhanced transparency and governance
5. Improved access to financial services, particularly in remote settings

Learn more about mobile money in this article, Exploring early adopters of mobile money for health, from Center for Health Market Innovations and the Health Financing and Governance Project (HFG).

A Successful Example from Kenya

Kenya is mobilizing domestic resources through mobile banking and strengthening public-private partnerships for scaling up mHealth. mPesa (mobile money system) provided health cards to allow individuals and families to save and spend on health.

More examples can be found in the Scaling Up Mobile Technology Applications for Accelerating Progress on Ending Preventable Maternal and Child Deaths Report [PDF, 802KB].

Mobile Money for Health [PDF, 660 KB]

HFG's paper reviews current use cases and potential applications of mobile money in health, including (a) bulk payments for salaries and per diems; (b) conditional cash transfer and pay-for-performance schemes; (c) collection of health insurance premiums; and (d) management of voucher schemes; with the overall objective of bringing attention to the benefits and challenges of using mobile money in the health sector. Sign-up for HFG's Mobile Money Newsletter.

Example Projects

• Mobile 4 Reproductive Health: An opt-in short message system (SMS)-based health communication program that provides information about nine family planning methods as well as a clinic database. Includes background information and practical tools to support programs.
• mCenas!: Seeks to identify and address myths and misconceptions related to family planning among youth in Mozambique.
• Domestic Violence Enhanced Home Visitation and Smart Phones (DOVE): Assists health workers in effectively and accurately identifying abused pregnant women and delivering interventions that are aimed at reducing and preventing intimate partner violence. This is one of many eMOCHA projects.
• GSMA mWomen Programme:The GSMA mWomen Programme aims to increase women’s access to and use of mobile phones and life-enhancing mobile services in developing markets.

• Better than Cash Alliance
• mPowering Frontline Health Workers
• mHealth: Mobile technology to strengthen family planning programs
• mHealth Working Group
• mHealth Planning and Implementation Guide: How to Integrate Mobile Technology into Health Programming

• mHealth - Innovations as Health System Strengthening Tools: 12 common applications & a visual framework [PDF, 1MB]
• mHealth - Resources to strengthen health programs [PDF, 127KB]
• mHealthEvidence.org
• mHealth: mobile technology poised to enable a new era in healthcare
• National eHealth Strategy Toolkit