Technology for Maternal Health Project

The Northern Regional Library Maternal Health Corner has five computers where health workers and members of the public have free access to the internet. The library reports that health workers especially are using the computers to seek information for lectures and presentations they conduct at antenatal clinics in Tamale and rural areas. Each computer was installed with content provided by international agencies, including Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) Medical Aid Films, and the Ghana health service. All content for the Heath Corner and the SMS service is carefully checked by a committee of local health workers to insure that it is accurate and locally relevant.

The library's Health Corner is also a training centre where Savana Signatures provides information and communication technology (ICT) training for health workers to improve their research and communication skills. They also trained health workers to create short messages about maternal health to send to mothers-to-be via mobile phone text messaging (SMS) each week.

In the first phase, the service reached out to 100 pregnant women, sending them two health text messages a week for 10 months. SMS for 12 non-literate women were sent to their husbands, who pass them on. The messages discuss common health issues experienced during pregnancy, suggest simple remedies, and encourage pregnant women to visit their clinics regularly. Community health workers are also organising meetings of pregnant women and mothers in the library.

The project builds on the Northern Regional Library's on-going work with ICT. Each month the library hosts Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) lectures at the library in partnership with Savana Signatures and the Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS). It was at one of these workshops that health workers reported that pregnant mothers were only visiting clinics about once a month, and that the time they were able to spend with the mothers-to-be was insufficient to provide much-needed advice and guidance.

Maternal Health, ICT

Accurate statistics for maternal mortality (death through complications related to pregnancy and childbirth) are hard to come by in Ghana. However, there is general agreement that the numbers, estimated at between 1,400 and 3,900 a year, are unacceptably high. Similarly, it is difficult to quantify deaths of infants.