142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

310922
Mainstreaming mHealth into maternal health: Identifying evidence-based solutions

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Garret Mehl, PhD , Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Lavanya Vasudevan, PhD , Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Smisha Agarwal, BDS, MPH, MBA , Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Amnesty Lefevre, PhD , Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Alain Labrique, PhD, MHS, MS , Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
The WHO Technical and Advisory Review Group on mHealth (mTERG) for Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health (RMNCH) represents a WHO-convened group of recognized global experts at the intersection of mHealth and RMNCH, across research and program implementation foci. Through a transparent process of discussions,  review and systematic evaluation, the WHO mTERG works to establish methodologies and build consensus recommendations for identification of mHealth strategies with substantial evidence of health system value for RMNCH. Established in 2012, the mTERG is convened on a regular basis to ensure that evidence generated by mHealth implementations is translated into actionable recommendations for decision-makers. The first area of evidence cataloguing, grading, and synthesis is on the topic of maternal health. This presentation focuses on detailing the methodologies, findings, and translation of the evidence into mainstream mechanisms that aim to ensure widespread adoption for evidence-based mHealth solutions.

 This presentation provides an overview of the methodologies developed and utilized by the WHO mTERG to: catalogue the activities and evidence of mHealth strategies for maternal health; grade and synthesize the evidence; and articulate the evidence and best practices such that they resonate with maternal health decision-makers present at the mHealth meeting and beyond. Additionally, the presentation will provide participants with an overview of how mHealth projects, strategies and associated evidence are classified and assessed, and the specific tools that have been created for this purpose. Participants will be introduced to the tools of evidence cataloguing and grading, synthesis findings, and locations where these can be easily accessed.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Discuss methodologies developed to catalogue activities and evidence of mHealth for maternal health and where to make use of them Demonstrate how to grade and synthesize the evidence on mHealth for maternal health and where to find the tools

Keyword(s): Evaluation, Information Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I lead work on mHealth evidence synthesis through the WHO mHealth Technical Advisory Group (mTERG) on Evidence, Impact and Scale in Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.Additionally, I am the PI of the “Dristhi” mHealth research study that is developing and assessing the impact of a smart-phone mHealth solution within the India rural health system, on maternal and child heath outcomes
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.