During the recently concluded Mobile Monday Kampala event that took place at UNICEF Kampala Headquaters on 29th August 2011 with the theme “Using Innovative Approaches to Improving Health Outcomes at the Community Level” Text to change was privileged to share her experience in Mobile health related projects in Uganda and around Africa. Presented by Ms. Eunice Gnay Namirembe, a Programme Manager at Text to Change Uganda. Her emphasis was put on "Measuring the impact of using mobile interventions to improve health at community level". 

 

Mobile Monday Kampala (MoMoKla) is a community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets.

MoMoKla was formed on January, 20th 2010 by a group of 40 founding members consisting of professionals in Uganda's telecommunication, academia, media and ICT sectors. The chapter was launched officially on March 8, 2010 (Women's Day).

 

Mobile Monday Kampala has the following objectives:

• To encourage innovation within the mobile sector;
• To facilitate networking between small and large companies, and between local and foreign;
• To help local companies effectively participate in international initiatives through the import and export of visions, concepts, technologies, know-how and best practices;
• To present innovative visions, trends, studies and forecasts from the mobile marketplace;
• To build networks between people, companies and finance;
• To bridge the gap between local and global mobile industries;
• To share the knowledge of Mobile Industry Experts.

In emergency, the biggest percentage of those who bear the burden caused by conflict and disaster are women and children, yet they are the key stakeholders in promoting good health and building stable, self-reliant communities. Having been the first organization in Africa to use SMS for health education in the private sector, Text to Change appreciated the power of using a mobile phone for health related projects because of its convenience, flexibility, cost effectiveness, interactivity as well its multipurpose or triple function of combining text, audio and videos in one go coupled with the capability of reaching out to a significant number of people.

According to the Eight Millennium development goals, four are directly related to health issues and these are; 

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Because of this great need of solving health problems in Uganda, Africa and the world at large, Text to Change is left with no choice but to use the mobile technology to create awareness about HIV/AIDS, encourage behavioral change as well as share information about health best practices.

The most common question from projects is how to promote a project. How to get people’s attention, connect with them and get supported.  At Text to Change, all these challenges have been solved by the power of the mobile phone. Ms. Namirembe shared the various mHealth projects that Text to Change has undertaken some of which included, but are not limited to; providing comprehensive  holistic care to clients of TB, HIV and cancer; Reaching people at workplaces with quizzes about HIV/AIDS and promotion of male circumcision through SMS. She cited some of the challenges as low rural mobile phone penetration and the fact that the ownership of phones is dominated by men yet most health related projects target women.

The importance of Mobile for Health is nothing new, and many traditional methods of managing and communicating information will continue to remain as crucial. Mobile phones will continue to improve, enhance enable information sharing and networking at community, regional and national levels which in turn will result into improved health services for the nationals.

 

1. http://www.momokla.ug/images/docs/texttochange.pdf
2. http://www.momokla.ug/index.php/home.html
3. http://www.mglsd.go.ug/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Uganda-Gender-Policy.pdf