Voice and mobile technology empowering caregivers and healthcare providers in Mozambique
Challenge
Mozambique has made significant progress in reducing mortality rates and improving access to primary healthcare over the past two decades. However, the country's health outcomes and expenditure efficiency have yet to advance simultaneously. Despite these improvements, challenges persist, particularly for those living in rural areas and extreme poverty, as well as women, adolescent girls, and children. Quality healthcare remains unsatisfactory and difficult to access for these vulnerable populations, highlighting gender and geographic health system inequalities.
In 2015, over half of deaths in Mozambique were associated with communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases. Malaria remains a significant contributor to child mortality, accounting for over one-third of deaths among children. The prevalence of stunting affects more than a third of children under five years old, while lack of access to clean water and sanitation is a widespread issue, further underscoring the public health challenges faced by the population.
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AlôVida Plus
AlôVida Plus is an effective digital health system that uses voice and mobile technology to engage caregivers and healthcare providers, leading to better health and immunisation results for everyone while also being able to adapt to increasing demand and continue long-term.
Initially starting as AlôVida, a health hotline offering personalised information on sexual and reproductive health, HIV, COVID-19, and vaccinations, AlôVida has expanded to include an Interactive Voice Recording and WhatsApp feature with AlôVida plus.
The AlôVida WhatsApp service was created and introduced on September 28, 2023. The service offers reminders for vaccines, emotional support messages, vaccination planning, help desk assistance, FAQs, messages around birth, and assessments for behavior changes related to vaccines.
Results
After gathering requirements and engaging with the Ministry of Health (MISAU), we have created a new WhatsApp service which is now integrated with the existing AlôVida Plus Helpline. We are excited to announce that the service has been officially launched, and we look forward to sharing user results and statistics soon.
Implementation partners: Ministry of Health (MISAU) together with Gavi,
Reach Digital Health, VillageReach
Looking Forward
In the future, approving and implementing demand-generation resources will be essential for the growth of the WhatsApp service. This includes activities to attract more users and ensure their successful integration into the platform. Evaluating the incorporation of maternal and neonatal danger signs alongside analysing the use of WhatsApp will help us gauge the extent of our impact and how satisfied our users are.
