A New App With a Modest Goal: Improving the Lives of 200 Million Babies
Portland, OR (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- Hands to Hearts International (HHI) announced today a partnership with HealthPhone to provide educational content to mothers of children age 0 to 3 in India. The video provides a portion of HHI’s mother training which has had a powerful impact on the lives of some of the world’s most disadvantaged infants.
“This is great news for millions of new mothers and their babies in some of the most rural and underdeveloped areas of the world,” said Laura Peterson, HHI’s Executive Director. “HealthPhone’s technology allows us to better the lives of millions of babies we wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach.”
HealthPhone content is distributed through microSD card which can be viewed on the majority of the more than 867 million mobile phones currently in use in India. The project will launch in Maharashtra in the coming weeks and plans to distribute the microSD cards to 4-5 million mothers with children under the age of two in that state. The information can be viewed without a cellular connection and at no cost.
“HealthPhone is excited to have Hands to Hearts International's instructional video in 24 languages, added to our library of resources for millions of mothers in India,” said Nand Wadhwani, Founder of HealthPhone and The Mother and Child Health and Education Trust. “It furthers our joint goal of providing quality health education that is both meaningful and supportive to marginalized mothers.”
The first years of life are critical to human development. Children who receive inadequate care at this age show inhibited emotional development, difficulty learning and poor physical health often into adulthood.
Globally, over 200 million children under 5 years of age are not fulfilling their development potential. HHI betters the health, well-being, cognitive development and safety of vulnerable children (ages 0-3) globally by training caregivers in nurturing, positive parenting skills as well as early child development.
HHI teaches caregivers how to improve their ability to nurture their children’s language, social, cognitive and physical development, and how to support their health, nutrition and early learning. Children and caregivers show remarkable benefits after HHI’s training including decreased infant mortality, improved health and development, enhanced bonding between caregiver and child and a new sense of pride in caregivers for their critically important role.
Hands to Hearts International (HHI) is a Portland-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and development of the world’s most vulnerable children. Established in 2004, HHI's simple and cost-effective program trains parents and caregivers in the most critical aspects of early child development. Currently, HHI works in India, Swaziland and Uganda. For more information, visit http://handstohearts.org.
HealthPhone makes health and nutrition content created by HHI, UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNDP, UNAIDS, WFP and The World Bank easily viewable on mobile phones at no cost and without the need for a cellular connection. http://www.healthphone.org/
For Media Inquiries:
Hands to Hearts International
Laura Peterson
Executive Director
laura(at)handstohearts(dot)org
(503) 936-5574
Laura Peterson, Hands to Hearts International, http://handstoheart.org, +1 5035468889, [email protected]
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