ZMD mHealth for Maternal Health Resource Center
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​RESEARCH & EVIDENCE
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Unpacking the performance of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa

MJ Global Health
April 2018

In this paper, we assess the program reach and message exposure of a mobile health information messaging program for mothers (MomConnect) in South Africa. From August 2014 to April 2017, 1,159,431 women were registered to MomConnect; corresponding to half of women attending antenatal care 1 (ANC1) and nearly 60% of those attending ANC1 estimated to own a mobile phone. While registration coverage and message delivery success rates exceed those observed for mobile messaging programs elsewhere, study findings highlight opportunities for program improvement and reinforce the need for rigorous and continuous monitoring of delivery systems.

Mobile health and maternal care: A winning combination for healthcare in the developing
world?

Health Policy and Technology
April 2015

In this paper, we address these transformations first by assessing the current state of knowledge on mobile
health in developing countries, as well as the issues and challenges raised by mobile health. We then focus our
discussion on maternal health to discuss the potential applications of these new techniques in this specificfield. Finally we
suggest several avenues for further analysis on the implications of using mobile phones as a tool for women's health.

A Mobile Health Wallet for Pregnancy-Related Health Care in Madagascar

JMIR mHealth and uHealth
​March 2019

The aim of this study was to determine the structural, contextual, and experiential characteristics of a mobile phone–based savings and payment platform, the Mobile Health Wallet (MHW), for skilled health care during pregnancy among women in Madagascar.

Effectiveness of mHealth interventions for maternal, newborn and child health in low– and middle–income countries: Systematic review and meta–analysis

Journal of Global Health
June 2016

A number of efforts have attempted to map the state of the evidence relating to mHealth for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in LMIC, but no rigorous systematic reviews exist on this specific topic. This study synthesized the evidence on the effect of mHealth interventions on MNCH in LMIC, with a particular focus on studies reporting impacts on patient outcomes.

Special Delivery: An Analysis of mHealth in Maternal and Newborn Health Programs and Their Outcomes Around the World

Maternal and Child Health Journal
July 2012

​This literature review provides a schematic overview of the outcomes, barriers, and strategies of integrating mHealth to improve prenatal and neonatal health outcomes. Six electronic databases were methodically searched using predetermined search terms. Retrieved articles were then categorized according to themes identified in previous studies. A total of 34 articles and reports contributed to the findings with information about the use and limitations of mHealth for prenatal and neonatal healthcare access and delivery. Health systems have implemented mHealth programs to facilitate emergency medical responses, point-of-care support, health promotion and data collection. However, the policy infrastructure for funding, coordinating and guiding the sustainable adoption of prenatal and neonatal mHealth services remains under-developed. The integration of mobile health for prenatal and newborn health services has demonstrated positive outcomes, but the sustainability and scalability of operations requires further feedback from and evaluation of ongoing programs.

The Elusive Path Toward Measuring Health Outcomes: Lessons Learned From a Pseudo-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Large-Scale Mobile Health Initiative

JMIR mHealth and uHealth
August 2019

Mobile health (mHealth) offers new opportunities to improve access to health services and health information. It also presents new challenges in evaluating its impact, particularly in linking the use of a technology intervention that aims to improve health behaviors with the health outcomes that are impacted by changed behaviors. The availability of data from a multitude of sources (paper-based and electronic) provides the conditions to facilitate making stronger connections between self-reported data and clinical outcomes. This commentary shares lessons and important considerations based on the experience of applying new research frameworks and incorporating maternal and child health records data into a pseudo-randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of mMitra, a stage-based voice messaging program to improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes in urban slums in India.

mHealth and MNCH: State of the Evidence

Trends, Gaps, Stakeholder Needs, and Opportunities For Future Research on the Use of Mobile Technology to Improve MNCH

mHealth Alliance / UN Foundation
January 2013

The mHealth Alliance as commissioned this report to present the findings of a needs assessment and gaps analysis of the current state of the evidence in mHealth, using maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) as a use case. The intent for the needs assessment and gaps analysis summarized in this report is to 1) identify gaps in the evidence base and 2) advocate for and encourage others to undertake research to fill these knowledge gaps and build the evidence base for mHealth. The report
aims to identify challenges and make recommendations towards enhancing the mHealth for MNCH evidence base the primary intended audience is the alliance’s evidence working group and other stakeholders who generate and use evidence in mHealth for MNCH.

REPORTS​​
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Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) Resources

mHealth Knowledge by K4Health
2015

​​The Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) was launched in 2011 as a public-private partnership between USAID, Johnson & Johnson, the UN Foundation, and BabyCenter with the goal of catalyzing a global community to deliver vital health information to new and expectant mothers and their families through mobile phones. BabyCenter created a core set of messages for MAMA that are timed and targeted to pregnant women and infants through three years old. Over the course of four and a half years, MAMA successfully reached over 7.5 million women and families with vital health information. The messages are free and adaptable and were informed by experts in maternal, newborn, and child health. Cumulatively, these messages are being used by more than 160 organizations in more than 54 countries around the world. All tools, resources and reports produced by the project may be accessed below.

mHealth for Maternal Health

Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF)
April 2014

On April 7-8, 2014, the Maternal Health Task Force convened a technical meeting entitled “mHealth for Maternal Health: bridging the gaps,” in partnership the World Health Organization Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The meeting brought 50 researchers, implementers and donors from both the maternal health and mHealth communities together to share their perspectives on improving maternal health through mHealth technologies. For results and resources from the meeting, visit the link below.
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Leveraging Mobile Technologies to Promote Maternal & Newborn Health 

mHealth Alliance
2011

The objective of this report is twofold:
(1) to describe the current state of mHealth intervention design, implementation, and evaluation that can be leveraged to improve maternal and newborn health globally and
(2) to identify ways to strategically advance mHealth in maternal and newborn care, as well as strategies for scaling up interventions. The report prioritized information from 13 LMICs in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. A total of 70 projects related to maternal and newborn health (MNH) and 160 projects in other health areas were identified.
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GUIDES, FRAMEWORKS & TOOLKITS
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Maternal mHealth Solution / Product and Technology Framework 

World Health Organization
2016

This resource represents the collective learning from five years of engagement with agencies working to strengthen
their digital health deployments, develop robust evaluations, and scale up their activities nationally and regionally. The lessons learnt from working with these partners are described in this document, which provides high-level guidance and systematic direction to programme planners and implementers embarking on similar journeys. Specifically, this Guide provides an introduction to the approaches and methods that were identified as useful for (i) the monitoring of project (i.e. intervention) deployments, focusing on the quality and fidelity of the intervention inputs; and (ii) the evaluation of project outputs and impacts across a number of axes, from user satisfaction to process improvements, health outcomes and cost–effectiveness. 

Maternal mHealth Solution / Product and Technology Framework 

GSMA
August 2014

This mHealth Product / Solutions and Technology (P&T) Framework has principles, models, concepts, and guidelines for delivering interoperable mobile solutions for maternal health. It was developed based on information and research carried out during the implementation of a national pregnancy registry (NPR) and maternal messaging program in South Africa, known as the MomConnect project, as well as other mobile and maternal health programs and projects in other countries, such as Rwanda. 

The MAPS Toolkit

World Health Organization
​September 2015

The World Health Organization (WHO) launches the mHealth toolkit to help innovators scale up projects for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health. The MAPS toolkit has two overarching goals – to assist and to plan. The toolkit assists mHealth project teams to critically assess their mHealth project as they move from piloting to planning their next steps for overcoming the challenges inherent in scaling up.

A Practical Guide for Engaging with Mobile Operators in mHealth for RMNCH

World Health Organization
​May 2015

Awareness is growing of the ways in which mobile health (mHealth) innovations can catalyse the implementation of proven health interventions that target health systems, health facilities, health workers and clients.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has played a leading role in guiding the efforts to generate and document evidence in this growing field, as well as in developing resources and capacity. By serving as the Secretariat for the mHealth Technical and Evidence Review Group for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, it works to identify mHealth innovations that have been shown to add value to health systems.

Mobile 4 Reproductive Health (m4RH) Toolkit​

FHI360
March 2016

The Mobile 4 Reproductive Health (m4RH) toolkit provides information and tips from FHI 360’s work in mobile technology for health over several years and is intended to share lessons learned as well as facilitate replication of this SMS-based family planning and reproductive health information service. The toolkit includes an overview of m4RH, recent demographic and use data gathered through routine system use and from several studies, sample messages, costing data and a description of our message development and adaptation process.

Maternal messaging mHealth programmes: Empowering and enabling decision makers to include mHealth services

GSMA and Deloitte
2014
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This document has been created by investigating the mHealth environment, both in South Africa and globally, in order to give a better understanding of
the true cost of delivering mHealth programmes in South Africa and provide several options for making future maternal messaging mHealth programmes more sustainable, and potentially more effective.