An assessment of the effectiveness of maternal mobile technology in low and middle income countries

Maternal mortality and morbidity pose serious public health problems. In 2008, UNICEF emphasized that maternal health is one of the most overlooked health problems, and reduction in the maternal mortality rates (MMR) have been quite slow (UNICEF, 2008). It is estimated that approximately 529,000 women die from pregnancy--‐related causes annually and 99% of these deaths between 1999--‐2010 occurred in developing countries, with women in Sub--‐Saharan Africa and South Asia bearing a disproportionate burden (MAMA, 2012; WHO, 2004, 2014). While there a number of interventions geared at improving the reproductive health outcomes of women and adolescents in low and middle--‐income countries, there is still need for more work. These interventions are limited by factors such as; low literacy, limited infrastructure, paucity of trained health care workers and prohibitive costs of existing interventions (WHO, 2014). Mobile health (mHealth) is a relatively new innovation that has grown out of the rapid technological advancement and need for cost effective interventions. Although there have been a number of pilot mHealth interventions funded and calls for scaling up of these programs there is limited evidence of their effectiveness (Kumar et al., 2013). In this introduction, I will elaborate on maternal and mobile health issues.