Use of mobile phones to facilitate health education and to increase the use of community-based services in Louga and Khombole districts of Senegal

BACKGROUND – A baseline study in Louga and Khombole districts of Senegal showed that only 50% of children from ages 12-23 months were fully immunized and the prevalence of diarrhea was 33% among children under five. Only 18% of pregnant women had 4 prenatal care visits. THE PROJECT – Since 2006, Plan International, a child-centered humanitarian organization, is implementing a five-year project to improve rural communities' access to quality health care. As part of the project, Plan is piloting the utilization of mobile phones in Louga and Khombole districts to disseminate health messages to promote community health dialogue, particularly around preventing diarrhea and promoting children's immunizations and prenatal visits. From December 2009 to December 2010, 160 married women with a mobile phone received weekly messages promoting health behaviors to improve MCH and personalized reminders for appointments at the health centers. RESULTS – An evaluation of the pilot showed that the rate of immunization for children was 90% in communities receiving messages on mobile phones compared to 59% in control communities not receiving the messages. The prevalence of diarrhea was 1% in the pilot communities compared to 30% in the control communities. All (100%) of women in the pilot communities have requested continuation of the health messages. CONSEQUENCES – Because the intervention has proven to be cost-effective and well received by the communities, the local government has realized that scaling up this pilot would result in a positive impact on the health of women and children in their districts.