Delivering mHealth: Consolidating critical findings for integrating mHealth into maternal and newborn health services

Background: Mobile health (mHealth), the integration of wireless communication and mobile multimedia devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants for health outcomes, offers a new paradigm for the delivery of and access to health services. Specifically, the ubiquity and penetration of mobile phones poses the opportunity to leverage mHealth for maternal and newborn health conditions, particularly in under-resourced ecosystems. Moreover, the slow progress and funding constraints in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for child and maternal health encourage harnessing innovative measures, such as mHealth, to address these public health priorities. Objective: This research examines the health impact, strategies and challenges of inducting mHealth into the international maternal and child health arena. Methods: This study conducted a methodological literature review of six databases and extracted information from 34 articles on the health outcomes and challenges of mHealth interventions targeting maternal and newborn care. Results: mHealth plays an integral role in comprehensive approaches to expedite emergency referrals and facilitate communication among health workers for obstetric and neonatal care. It can also bolster preventive services through the promotion of antenatal care and targeted dissemination of critical prenatal information. Despite these gains, the review identified a paucity of research regarding funding and policy frameworks for incorporating and scaling mHealth-based maternal and newborn initiatives into the broader health system. Conclusion: The researchers seek to expand on the literature and analyze interactions among stakeholders through value-chain models in order to suggest mechanisms for integrating and sustaining mHealth services for maternal and newborn health.