MobileActive.org

Mobile phones are currently used by millions of people around the world. In Africa, mobile phone ownership and use has dispersed at a surprisingly rapid rate across the continent. Recently, there have been multiple and diverse efforts to exploit mobile technologies for purposes of health communication, including collection of health data and provision of health information. Using mobile phones to provide family planning information, however, is a new area that has received almost no attention from health workers.

Recognizing this as a gap and an opportunity, the Mobile for Reproductive Health (m4RH) project was born. The m4RH project is conceptualized as an automated, text-based system that is compatible with any and every mobile phone to maximize reach and access to family planning information via mobile phone. Since this is a new project and mobile phones are a novel method of delivering family planning information, formative research to obtain feedback on the project was carried out in countries where the m4RH project will be piloted in 2010.

Handheld computers have untapped potential to improve HIV/AIDS programs in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the collection of survey data. We conducted an experiment in three neighborhoods of Luanda, Angola to assess the impact of the technology on people’s comfort and willingness to disclose sensitive personal information, such as sexual behavior.

Participants were asked about their HIV/AIDSrelated knowledge, attitudes, and practices by local interviewers using either handheld computers or paper surveys. T-tests showed no differences between participants’ self-reported comfort across handheld and paper conditions. However, participants in the handheld condition were more likely to give socially desirable responses to the sexual behavior questions than participants in the paper condition. These results suggest that using handheld computers in data collection in sub-Saharan Africa may lead to biased reports of HIV/AIDS-related risk behaviors.

Results of proof-of-concept testing for an mHealth solution for reproductive health in Uttar Pradesh, India. The text messaging tool based on FrontlineSMS, is a family planning service that relies on the Standard Day Method system of birth control. This method of birth control depends on the woman's fertility cycles to avoid pregnancy. Women can text the date of their menses and user receives their fertility status. Additionally, women can receive information about other family planning options, and support. Presented are observations on the appropriatenss of the technology from focus group discussions. The authors share the input given by target users in the product and service design. Women tested the solution to give insight on feasibility and design.