mMitra: Reaching out through mobile phones

mMitra: Reaching out through mobile phones

Child care and maternity are critical health aspects that need attention among the community members. Mumbai Smiles recently launched its new project mMitra to involve in maternal health care.

mMitra is a free mobile voice call service that provides culturally appropriate comprehensive information on preventive care and simple interventions to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in urban India. The voice calls are in the local dialect, specific to the women’s gestational age or the age of the infant and are sent weekly/twice a week free of cost directly to pregnant women and mothers with infants. Women in the community are enrolled by the sakhis. The women who come for their antenatal check up to the municipal or government hospitals are enrolled by the health supervisors. The women are enrolled for the service through partnership with NGOs, Govt Hosp, Maternity homes and ICDS workers. Clinically tested, individualized voice calls of 90-120 seconds (145 voice calls in all) in Hindi or Marathi are sent directly to the mobile phones of each enrolled woman. mMitra seeks to become a household name so that every pregnant woman can have a safe and healthy motherhood.

Attached is one of the audio clips that the beneficiary received during the initial periods of pregnancy.