October 27th: New Applications for Existing Technologies to Improve Maternal Health

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*Updated with new speaker information*

Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative, the Maternal Health Task Force, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the eighth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health: New Applications for Existing Technologies to Improve Maternal Health.

This program features David Aylward, Executive Director, mHealth Alliance at the UN Foundation; Alain Labrique, Assistant Professor, John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Josh Nesbit, Executive Director, FrontlineSMS: Medic.

Program Date: October 27, 2010

Time: 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Location: 5th Floor Conference Room, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington D.C. (Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.)

Live Stream: If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast at: www.wilsoncenter.org. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time. You will need Windows Media Player to watch the webcast. To download the free player, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.www.wilsoncenter.org/directions.

Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.

Program Summary:  In developing countries, the women most in need are often the most isolated, but mobile and web technologies are emerging as a way to bridge this gap and improve maternal health. Technologies such as SMS text messaging provide mothers, health care workers, and institutions with up-to-the-minute information critical to saving lives and building local capacity.

David Aylward, executive director of mHealth Alliance at the UN Foundation will explain how mobile and other emerging technologies such as digital games can facilitate the continuum of care for maternal health. Alain Labrique, assistant professor at John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, will present data on mobile use in obstretric crises in rural Bangladesh and discuss opportunities, challenges and priorities for maternal and neonatal mHealth interventions in resource-limited settings. Josh Nesbit, executive director of FrontlineSMS: Medic, will discuss the role of collaborative partnerships and share challenges and lessons learned for scaling up existing technologies.

About the Maternal Health Policy Series: The reproductive and maternal health community finds itself at a critical point, drawing increased attention and funding, but still confronting more than a half million deaths each year and a high unmet need for family planning. The Policy Dialogue series seeks to galvanize the community by focusing on important issues within the maternal health community.

The Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative is pleased to present this series with its co-conveners, the Maternal Health Task Force and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and is grateful to USAID’s Bureau for Global Health for further technical assistance.

For more information on the Advancing Policy Dialogue Series on Maternal Health, click here.