Foundations of Maternal and Child Health

The great majority of maternal and infant deaths occurring in low-resource setting can be prevented. Improvements in maternal knowledge, leading to health-promoting behaviors, are often an important part of the solution.

In collaboration with the Philani Maternal Child Health and Nutrition Trust, we created a collection of foundational health education videos addressing key topics in maternal child health. The series was first narrated in isiXhosa, then translated into Hindi and Dioula. It is currently being used in South Africa, India and Burkina Faso.

By partnering with community health workers, who are trained in delivering health education messaging, we work to disseminate our content via mobile technology to families who would otherwise lack access to this information. Armed with tablets and smartphones, and using our offline app, we empower these frontline healthcare providers with accessible teaching tools which empower them in the field. The maternal child health content is also freely available on our DM YouTube Channel.

In 2017, we began conducted focus groups with community health workers who had experience using our video health promotion content during their home visits. Recent research suggests that tablet-based, digital teaching tools were an acceptable, feasible and empowering resource for community health workers.