Framework Created for Using mHealth to Address Gender Issues in Developing Countries

The mHealth Alliance, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization, has announced a framework that aims to use mobile health (mHealth) technologies as a way to better understand better understand gender inequity in low-and-middle-income countries. The Gender Analytical Framework, as it is being called, aims to help people better understand the nuances of gender issues, as well as gaps related to gender.

The framework has components people must focus on if they are using mHealth to intervene in addressing the reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) issues that woman face in low-and-middle-income countries. These components include: technical health intervention, technology strategy, community mobilization and operational approach, and policy context.

"As with all health interventions, mHealth programs designed with consideration of users’ lives and the contexts in which they live will have a much greater chance of achieving significant impact," Patricia Mechael, executive director of the mHealth Alliance and co-author of the framework, said in a statement. "mHealth projects – particularly in the case of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health – must take into account social, cultural and gender norms in order to achieve successful implementations and improve the health and wellbeing of women and families."

The framework can be read here.