News item from African Arguments. Extracts below. Read in full:
https://africanarguments.org/2022/11/i-did-it-all-on-a-phone-the-hotline...
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By Rabson Kondowe, november 24, 20222
... For Chikondi Juma, 42, the dry season brings back memories of the serious tummy pains she had during her pregnancy this time in 2020.
“The condition was unbearable, and I did not know what the problem was,” she recalls. “My husband had gone to work. When my neighbour learned of my condition, she called a toll-free hotline for help.”
The sympathetic health worker on the other end of the line advised her neighbour to quickly escort Juma to the nearest hospital for further assistance. While at the hospital, it was discovered that Juma, who was four months pregnant, had contracted a urinary tract infection. If left untreated, this could have developed into a serious kidney infection. But fortunately, Juma was treated with antibiotics. In five days, she was back on her feet...
Juma is one of thousands of women in Malawi to have benefited from the toll-free hotline known popularly in Chichewa as Chipatala Cha Pa Foni (CCPF). This “health centre by phone” service gives free health advice to pregnant women and parents of young children across the country. It also sends families text or voice messages with tips and reminders tailored to the week of pregnancy or a child’s age.
The idea was conceived in 2011 by VillageReach, Concern Worldwide, and Malawi’s Health Ministry... Today, the free hotline is available countrywide and fully operated by the Health Ministry...
Situated in Lilongwe, CCPF’s call centre is staffed with 22 trained health workers. They respond to inquiries, keeping the phone lines open 24 hours a day. Florence Banda, one of those workers, believes the initiative is playing a crucial role in making sure that expectant women and mothers are equipped with essential information.
“We educate them about how to spot danger signs early,” she says. “Apart from that, we provide them with nutrition tips that they are supposed to follow during their pregnancy so that they stay healthy and deliver a healthy baby as well. Similarly, for mothers that have just given birth, we provide them with breastfeeding advice.”...
Looking ahead, Sayidi says that the programme wants to develop new dimensions too. He is optimistic that soon, for instance, CCPF will be able to dispatch ambulances from the nearest health facility to where the caller is if necessary...
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COMMENT (NPW): Further information about this initiative is available here: https://socialinnovationinhealth.org/case-studies/chipatala-cha-pa-foni-...
'Especially in remote rural areas, pregnant women and mothers face the challenge of lack of access to quality maternal and child health care due to distance from health facilities and having insufficient trained health workers serving the population. There are also myths and misinformation that affect where and when they seek health care.'
“When I submitted my idea, I believed that it would save lives and improve access to health care. People get discouraged to go to hospitals because of the type of care that they expect to get and when you add the misinformation going around, a lot of myths going around that lead to a lot of deaths in infants. I believe technology can help bridge that.” – Suyapi Mumba, Social Innovator.
A recent impact evaluation by VillageReach appears to suggest the initiative is entirely positive with no apparent shortcomings. https://www.villagereach.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/VR_CCPFImpactEva...
What is the experience of other countries in implementing help lines for health?
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil@hifa.org
Global Healthcare Information Network: Working in official relations with WHO
