The mobile communications revolution is changing the way we live and work. And now mobile communications are also changing how we transmit and provide health care. Naseem S. Miller has reported for Pediatric News "National Texting Program for New Moms Continues Growth." Into its second year a nationwide texting program for new moms has continued to grow. In this public-private partnership which is called text4baby free educational text messages are sent to expecting and new moms. There are now over 260,000 enrollees in the program now, which is up from more than 150,000 in April.
In 2010 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created a Text4Health Task Force, which has been trying to "capitalize on the rapid proliferation of mobile phone technology and platforms, such as text messaging," and reach underserved groups. Among the agency’s texting projects are maternal and child health, domestic violence and sexual abuse prevention, tobacco control, emergency preparedness, and diabetes and asthma education.
The text4baby program has had a goal of reaching women, especially those who are uninsured or underinsured, with three free text messages daily to enrollees, many of which are seen as relevant to their due date. Across the nation around 46% of women signed up during their first trimester. The service sends out phone numbers of relevant resources, and it alerts women of an outbreak or recall. Many physicians who have signed up for the service have also said they have "picked up some tips" from the messages.
In order to become more attractive to users and to help collect their insights, the messaging program is now trying to become interactive. A flumodule was among one of its first interactive projects which asked enrollees whether or not they were planning to get a flu shot this season. Greater than half of those who said they were planning to get the flu shot requested to be sent a reminder provided by the module. This type of interactivity can help engage the users while also reinforcing key health concepts
Text4baby is a program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, which is planning to reach 1 million women by the end of 2012. The program has been developed as a free tool to reach mothers across the nation and to help reduce the risk of negative birth outcomes. The United States presently has one of the highest infant mortality rates among the industrialized nations with more than 28,000 infant deaths each year. This program has been proving to have the potential to meet its objective of helping to bring more healthy babies into the world.
