22 Feb 2017    113607

Report of ‘The ReMiND Project: Reducing Maternal and Newborn Death’

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Catholic Relief Services recently released a report examining the impact and result of the ReMiND Project. With the goal of contributing to increase sustainable improvement in mothers, newborns and children’s survival, the ReMiND Project is using mobile phone operations to support client assessment, counselling and early indication; treatment, rapid referral, post-partum newborn complications and tracks childhood immunizations.

The report individually rates the nine key principles for digital development on a 1-5 scale (1 defined as a low rank and 5 being a high rank). Overall, all nine principles of the project were ranked 5 on the scale. Some of the principles included the design created based on user feedback to get the best possible result. Some impactful designs of the program include pictures which were used to help illiterate users appropriately register their information. Other principles included how data driven the programme is, the improvement that has been made upon the programme, design and sustainability.

In review of the report, it was found that there was an overall increase among the resources and care used during pregnancy in order to track the health of both mother and baby. 59% of women reported to have had abdominal exams mid-term during pregnancy. Blood and urine testing increased from 28% to 33%. The recall of counselling on nutrition also increased dramatically from 17.8% to 55%.

The ReMiND Project has allowed for more than just increase of care,  it has been greatly successful in creating a link between women and the health system allowing greater counselling for women and babies. Only 44% of women received an ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) visit with a counselling component prior to the intervention, but 72% received a counselling visit from their ASHA at the time of the mid-term evaluation (MTE) survey.

Paving the way for change The ReMiND Project has allowed for significant and positive impact on the expecting and post-partum women and children. Read full report here

Jack Kaburu, Manager of the Global Knowledge and Information Management at Catholic Relief Services will speak at the upcoming Aid & Development Africa Summit in Nairobi. For more information, please visit africa.aidforum.org

Image Source: Pintrest

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