A Rural Community-Based Investigation To Assess Mobile Health (mhealth) For Family Planning Advice In District Multan | [Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College • 2023]

Author(s):

1. Naveen Farooq: HBS Medical & Dental College, Islamabad.Pakistan

2. Nadia Rehman Alvi: Department of Public Health, Health Services Academy, Islamabad.Pakistan

3. Sana Mangrio: Department of Community Medicine, Shifa Tameer e Millat University, Islamabad, Pakistan

4. Syed Aftab Rahim: Department of Public Health, Health Services Academy, Islamabad.Pakistan

5. Zunaira Riaz: Department of Public Health, Health Services Academy, Islamabad.Pakistan

Abstract:

Background: Globally, Pakistan is the 5th populous country. To increase the use of family planning services by public-private business model, the Punjab Population Innovation Fund selected the “Connect4fp” project implemented by the International Rescue Committee organization. The purpose of this research was to determine the impact of mobile health(mHealth) advice on family planning in the project area. This project was implemented in 9 Union councils of district Multan, Pakistan. The innovative idea of this project was the use of mobile phones to spread family planning knowledge among the community in the form of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) as well as Short Message Service (SMS) (i.e., text messages). Methods: A cross-sectional study targeted 197 men as well as women (mostly married women of reproductive age) receiving mobile messages or recorded robocalls from the project area. The purpose was to assess their family planning knowledge and awareness by using a structured Likert scale questionnaire. Secondly, the viewpoint about mHealth and its effect on family planning was determined from 40 private providers and 27 Family planning Champions (who were part of the project) through telephonic interviews. Their response was quantified by using the Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the study's main variables. The association of family planning knowledge of community members was determined to their contraceptive use by using Chi-square. Results: The results specified that 60% of community members included in this study told that their family planning knowledge is increased due to this mHealth program. 36% of Private providers while 75% FP Champions agreed that family planning patients are increased due to this mHealth program. Conclusion: Mobile messages and robocalls about family planning sent in the local language positively contributed to increasing FP knowledge and awareness in the community. This may trigger communication about family planning within couples, as a result increasing the use of family planning services.

Page(s): 107-113

DOI: 10.37939/jrmc.v27i1.1973

Published: Journal: Journal of Rawalpindi Medical College, Volume: 27, Issue: 1, Year: 2023

Keywords:

Family planning , mHealth , Family planning champions , Private providers

References:

References are not available for this document.

Citations

Citations are not available for this document.

Citations

Downloads

Views