Community-based Information System for child and maternal health in remote populations

Rural areas in LMIC are often geographically, culturally and economically marginalized, and may lack mobile and internet coverage, turning communication between communities and health providers weak. Thus, key mechanisms to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes like skilled birth attendance (SBA) are not achieved. In some rural places of Peru, SBA is less than 70%. Therefore, we propose a community-based Information System which will link pregnant women (PW), community agents (CAs), traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and Health Centers (HCs). PW will be tracked and risk classified through a personal device which will include a memory chip with personal health information, a GPS and an alarm or intercom. The same features, educative videos to be projected for groups of PW and pre-recorded videos for self-training will be included in a tablet for CAs and TBAs. By this, we will empower communities, particularly women, through education and integration of them and other community actors to health System. In HCs, a mobile application will collect data from these devices and will show position of PW at any time of pregnancy and will alarm when delivery is close, allowing Health personnel to seek for PW especially those in high risk. In labor or emergencies, PW or other community actor might activate the alarm and notify HCs, allowing them to provide care timely, increasing SBA and as a consequence decreasing maternal and neonatal mortality related to complications of labor