How SMS is helping to save children’s lives in Cameroon
Healthcare is one area in which mobile technology is having an enormous impact all over the world. In Cameroon, MTN is using it to reduce the time it takes to diagnose HIV in newborn babies.
With early diagnosis of HIV crucial to the success of treatment for babies born with the virus, the MTN Cameroon Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative have worked together to create SMS Printer for Life. This enables information to be transmitted by SMS between health facilities and laboratories to ensure that HIV test results are delivered on the same day. Clinics can print out the results directly from the text message and they can also be sent to the parent’s or caregiver’s phone, ensuring that HIV positive babies can start treatment quickly.
700 healthcare facilities use SMS Printer for Life, more than 11,800 lab results have been delivered using the technology and more than 630 babies who tested positive have been enrolled on a treatment programme. The solution is transforming the way HIV is diagnosed in babies and helping to reduce the infant mortality rate in Cameroon.
