Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Baby Monitor

last updated Mar 22, 2013

Overview

Implementing organization: 
Population Council of Kenya
Implementation Partner(s): 
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and the World Bank.
Legal Status: 
Private (not-for-profit)
Year Launched: 
October 2011
Stage: 
Short-term project
Income Level of Target Population: 
20-60% (lower to lower-middle), 60-90% (middle to upper-middle)

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor
Funders: 
Grand Challenges Canada, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Government of Norway, the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Technology

Technology Used: 
Phones › Apps/Software, Phones › SMS/MMS (Text Message), Phones › Video-conference, Phones › Voice
Technology Purpose: 
Facilitating Patient Communications
Technology Partner(s): 
InSTEDD

Scale

Personnel Employed: 
<10
Number of Clients Served: 
80 formative research; 400 trials
Summary: 

Baby Monitor takes clinical screening directly to women in the critical period before and after birth using interactive voice response technology to detect complications and take action.

Program goals/rationale: 

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, 75–90 percent of the poorest women give birth at home, often without experienced support. Antenatal care and treatment in the first days and weeks postpartum can prevent at least two-thirds of newborn deaths. This mobile phone application takes clinical screening directly to women during the critical period before and after birth to detect complications and take action.

Key program components: 

The Baby Monitor is a low-cost application that aims to increase Kenyan mothers' access to primary health care, improve the quality of service delivery, and make better use of limited numbers of skilled birth attendants and community health workers in resource-poor settings. It takes clinical screening directly to women in the critical period before and after birth. This mobile phone application, developed with partners at InSTEDD, uses interactive voice response technology to detect complications and take action. Women listen to screening questions in their local language and respond by pressing a key. Baby Monitor assesses responses and, if necessary, sends information, makes referrals, and dispatches community health workers. Baby Monitor is innovative because it targets hard-to-reach patients as end-users of a mobile screening service. As text messages require women to be literate, Baby Monitor lowers the barriers to entry by using interactive voice response (IVR) technology, enabling women to listen to screening questions.

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2012RH_BabyMonitorInfo.pdf262.25 KB
2011RH_BabyMonitorHowItWorks.pdf1.23 MB
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