ABOUT

Mafruha Alam joined NCEPH in 2014 to commence a PhD that builds on her public health research in Bangladesh where she has evaluated and monitored health educational services. She coordinated formative research for the Aponjon service ( the first national mobile phone based health service serving over a million pregnant women, mother of 0-11 month old babies and their husbands in Bangladesh), implemented by Dnet and contributed to the joint publication of the Aponjon report with a Johns Hopkins University team. Her background is in Public health, Parasitology and Life Sciences.

ABSTRACT

Mobile phone based health services, known as mHealth, have implementation benefits which aim to improve maternal and child health outcomes in resource limited settings where there is a severe shortage of skilled healthcare providers. This study investigates the effect of mobile phone based educational messages and consultation services on pregnancy, delivery and new born healthcare practices in Bangladesh. I have analysed survey data about the ‘Aponjon’ service (the first national mHealth service for pregnant women and new mother of 0-11 month old babies in Bangladesh) to understand the effects of educational messaging on women’s delivery and postpartum healthcare practices. This was followed up with qualitative interviews with survey respondents to understand the underlying factors that may affect women’s adoption of a mHealth service and utilization of maternal healthcare facilities for delivery and ante- and postpartum healthcare services. A mixed methods approach was taken to investigate subscriber women’s and their family’s access to a 24*7 doctor’s helpline service providing advice on disease diagnosis, decision making, prescription services and referrals. In this seminar I will present my research findings and discuss the implications of a mHealth service for improved knowledge and behavioural outcomes around maternal, neonatal and infant healthcare in resource limited settings.