Groups target 15m African mothers with health facts

What you need to know:

  • Samsung will embed the SmartHealth app on its smartphones being shipped across Africa, ensuring that health care workers and consumers access the information they require.

Samsung is partnering with GSM Association (GSMA) to provide health facts and figures to 15.5 million pregnant women and mothers of infants across Africa. The GSMA, under its Mobile for Development Health programme, is working with the WHO to enable access to health services using mobile technology.

Samsung says it will offer discounted handsets and tablets embedded with an application being shipped to the continent. Robert Ngeru, the Samsung Vice President for East and Central Africa, says the project is part of the United Nations ‘Every Woman Every Child’ strategy.

“Samsung will embed the SmartHealth app on its smartphones being shipped across Africa, thereby ensuring that health care workers and consumers access the information they require,” Mr Ngeru said.

To be rolled out in two phases, the first part of the will cover seven countries from September. Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania are in the second phase starting in 2015.

“By providing access to our ecosystem, we will be using technology to deliver information effectively and in a manner that appeals to users and also provides access to value-added services,” said Mr Ngeru.

GSMA is offering opportunities under the programme to deliver health care through innovation. Mobile technology offers convenient, easy access to much needed information about health care, including diagnosis, interventions, and access.

Lowering hurdles

It addresses the distances and delivery of services that pose major disadvantages for the developing world. Collectively, the partnership will reduce barriers to handset ownership and connectivity for consumers and health workers.

This is a recognition of the fact that it is only when consumers can get the right content that technology can have impact.

Across the world, mobile technology is steadily lowering hurdles to services, especially crucial sectors like health that have remained beyond reach for many due to cost and limited technical capacity.

Other sectors that have gained a lot from technology include agriculture, where farmers, for example, can now bargain for better prices before supplying produce.