Mobile Health Service Provides Health Tips to Pregnant Women, New Moms
Green Bay, WI – Cellcom has signed on as a wireless partner for the launch of text4baby, a mobile health partnership designed to promote maternal and child health among underserved women. Text4baby provides timely and expert health information through SMS text messages to pregnant women and new moms through their babies’ first year.
By texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE for Spanish), women receive three SMS text messages each week timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth. These messages focus on a variety of topics critical to maternal and child health, including birth defects prevention, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health and safe sleep. Text4baby messages also connect women to prenatal and infant care services and other resources.
Fifty percent of people with chronic health problems in the United States have Internet access, but 90 percent of Americans have mobile phones. This statistic alone indicates the extraordinary impact mobile technology can have on health outcomes.
“We believe mobile health programs like text4baby are going to be an integral part of healthcare going forward,” said Pat Riordan, President and CEO of Cellcom. “Wireless devices allow important information to be sent anywhere at any time and the healthcare industry is just beginning to scratch the surface of potential for mobile health applications. Cellcom is proud to be a partner in these initiatives.”
The infant mortality rate in the United States is one of the highest in the industrialized world, and for the first time since the 1950s, that rate is on the rise. Each year in the United States, more than 500,000 babies are born prematurely and an estimated 28,000 children die before their first birthday – signifying a public health crisis.
The free text4baby program does not have a sign-up cost. If a users wireless package does not include texting, standard messaging rates will apply. For Cellcom customers, standard messaging rates apply for sent messages and all postpaid subscribers receive free incoming text messages.
“Text4baby provides pregnant women and new moms with information they can use to help them stay healthy, and to give their babies the best possible starts in life," said Erich Metzler, MD, of Prevea Health, Allouez Health Center.
Founding partners of text4baby include National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), Voxiva, CTIA - The Wireless Foundation, grey healthcare group (a WPP company) and Johnson & Johnson. U.S. government partners include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense Military Health System.
For more information, please visit text4baby.org.
Click here for text4baby logos.