LIVE FROM GSMA-mHA MOBILE HEALTH SUMMIT 2012: Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson this morning outlined how mobile technology is having a major impact on services provided to expectant mothers around the world.

“360,000 women die each year during childbirth and three million babies die during childbirth,” stated Jane Rogers, MD, Southern Africa, Johnson & Johnson, in her keynote introduction. “Most of these deaths are preventable.”

Rogers noted that the majority of women worldwide only have one prenatal visit with a healthcare professional before they give birth, but more than one billion women in low-and-middle income countries own a mobile phone. Given the ubiquity of mobile devices, Johnson & Johnson has developed a service called Text4Baby that reaches mothers around the world through different models.

Text4Baby has reached over 350,000 mothers in the US and expanded to Russia in February.  Meanwhile its MAMA initiative  (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action, a public-private partnership between the United States Agency for International Development, Johnson & Johnson, the  United Nations Foundation, the mHealth Alliance and BabyCenter) has country programs in Bangladesh, South Africa, and India, and has reached 22 markets worldwide.  Subscribers register mothers for the service by indicating the expected due date of birth or recent birthdate. They then receive messages weekly and reminders up to the child’s first birthday. The initiative this week carried out the first South African demos of MAMA and user testing will follow in the next few months.

“Mobile health is a disruptive market innovation,” claimed Rogers. “It holds the promise to significantly increase our ability to reach, engage, and interact with mothers globally.” She cited two factors necessary for future success: “We need to collaborate and catalyse public-private partnerships in the area of mobile health – the potential is so great it requires many stakeholders working together – and we need to contribute to a body of evidence in mobile health and positive health behaviour.”

Concluding her presentation, Rogers said: “The convergence of mobiles and healthcare provides a wonderful tool. Mobiles can put vital information in the hands of every woman. Mobile health messaging can inform, dispel myths, highlight warning signs…. We know mobiles are not a magic wand to prevent death, however this is an effective and relatively low cost innovation that can ensure the world helps communities thrive.”