Project Lead(s): Jose Perez-Lu
Issue
Maternal health has become a priority worldwide.
Many rural communities do not get access to information on maternal health because messages are not in their local language.
Solution
Quechua is the language spoken in the rural Andes region of Peru and does not have a written component.
To reach this population, the project used voice messages in the Quechua language to give mothers reminders for medical appointments, general pregnancy health tips and nutritional tips on how to reduce pregnancy complications.
The project team started by carrying out an exploratory study, followed by developing messages and then programming the system, using a cloud-based voice system that sends voice messages to multiple users automatically.
The messages contained information on the need for antenatal visits, plus the importance of ferrous sulfate supplement, tetanus vaccination and how to recognize pregnancy-related danger signs.
A randomized study was then conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention with 208 Quechua women.
Outcome
Results showed that the use of voice messages in Quechua had a number of positive outcomes. Pregnant women who received messages were:
· Three times more likely to have six or more antenatal care visits on time
· 1.2 times more likely to have two doses of tetanus vaccine
· More than 15 times more likely to be adherent to taking ferrous sulfate supplements
· More than 8 times more likely to recognize six or more warning signs during pregnancy
· Almost 3 times more likely to go to their postpartum control visit
· 21% less likely to have decreasing hematocrit levels.
Information about the project has been distributed in publications and conferences.
They are plans to apply to Phase II of Grand Challenges Canada for scale-up funding, in collaboration with regional and national governmental leadership.
