MAMA Milestone: 2 Million Subscribers Reached; Results Show Improved Health Behaviors for Mothers & Babies
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 04, 2015 -- Today, in celebration of International Women's Day this month, the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) is proud to announce it has reached and empowered more than two million women and families with its timed and targeted information through its country programs in Bangladesh, South Africa and India.
Eight hundred women die from complications from pregnancy or childbirth every day and every year, 2.8 million children die within their first month of life. Many of these deaths are preventable through simple interventions and targeted health information. At the same time, one billion women in low and middle income countries now own mobile phones.
“When MAMA was launched in 2011, we knew the potential of mobile phones to deliver critical health information was real. What we didn’t know was just how fast we would grow and how much impact we would have. It is with great pride that MAMA and its founding partners – USAID, Johnson & Johnson, United Nations Foundation and BabyCenter – reaches this significant marker,” says Kirsten Gagnaire, Executive Director of MAMA.
MAMA quickly scaled in Bangladesh, where it has reached more than 1.3 million people throughout every single district in the country. In South Africa, MAMA has reached over 750,000 and its work is being integrated into the MomConnect program launched by the government in 2014. MomConnect links women with the national pregnancy registry and enables real-time feedback about health services received and data connected to a woman’s health record. MAMA’s program in India was officially launched in November 2014 and has already reached 40,000 women and families in the slums of Mumbai. As of March 1, 2015, MAMA’s cumulative subscriber total reached 2,041,368 women, families and caregivers.
“While many mHealth pilots have been launched across the world, few have matured enough to reach scale and have the kind of impact they should. MAMA’s customized country programs are breaking new ground in the global health field, showing that it is possible to scale mHealth programs that are having real impact,” says Kate Dodson, Vice President of Global Health at the United Nations Foundation.
Among MAMA’s impact: those receiving MAMA messages seek the recommended number of pre- and post-natal care visits, deliver their babies at health clinics, exclusively breastfeed and complete the recommended vaccinations at higher rates than non-subscribers, all behaviors known to improve the health of moms and babies. Read more about MAMA’s impact.
Celebrated every year on March 8th since 1911, International Women's Day is an opportunity to hail the achievements of women while calling for greater equality. This year’s theme, Make It Happen, is meant to encourage effective action for advancing and recognizing women. Since its inception, the MAMA partnership has provided new and expectant mothers with information that empowers them to make the best decisions for their health and that of their families.
“We are so proud of this incredible milestone,” says Colleen Hancock, COO of BabyCenter. “The quality of the content we create for MAMA based on the BabyCenter principles – expert-reviewed, medically driven, culturally relevant – has been a key enabler for us to drive scale and impact and reach the two million families who need this information.”
“I am thrilled that MAMA has reached two million subscribers globally. As their growth continues exponentially, I look forward to the additional impact they will have in their current country programs and in new countries around the world,” said BethAnne Moskov, Deputy Director, Office of Health, Infectious Disease and Nutrition at USAID. “MAMA’s innovative approaches are revolutionary in generating demand for needed services, as we are seeing with this noteworthy milestone.”
With an intentional focus in countries with high maternal, newborn and child health needs and high rates of mobile phone ownerships, MAMA will launch its fourth country program in Nigeria later this year. With access to the internet via mobile phones in a state of unprecedented growth in low and middle income countries, MAMA is working to bring its health information to other priority countries via the mobile web. Additionally, MAMA is a trusted resource for hundreds of NGOs around the world, including approximately 70 who are actively promoting its content within the communities that they serve.
About MAMA:
MAMA, delivers vital health information directly to new and expectant mothers living in poverty, to their mobile phones. MAMA’s content is written by global health experts, highly customized by local partners and corresponds to the stage of the woman’s pregnancy or the developmental age of her child. Using the best mobile format for the individual subscriber, MAMA messages empower women to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Launched in 2011 as a public private partnership between USAID, Johnson & Johnson, the United Nations Foundation and BabyCenter, MAMA brings together leaders in the corporate, NGO, government and tech sectors, harnessing their strengths and resources to help those most in need. Deliberately focused on countries where high maternal, newborn and child health needs intersect with broad availability of mobile phones, MAMA has customized programs in Bangladesh, South Africa, India and Nigeria. With access to the internet via mobile phones in a state of unprecedented growth in low and middle income countries, MAMA is working to bring its health information to other priority countries via the mobile web.
Stephanie Bowen, United Nations Foundation, http://www.givingtuesday.org, +1 (202) 368-8974, [email protected]
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