Exploring the Use of Mobile Phone Technology for Optimizing, Tracking and Responding to Children's Developmental Progress in Urban Poor Settings

We propose the use of mobile phone technology to help caregivers track and respond to young children's developmental progress in a timely manner. Caregivers/parents will be trained on how to record developmental milestones achieved by their children in real time. The immediate benefits of the innovation are that when children's development is tracked, developmental delays will be identified and dealt with early. The use of existing structures and systems by leveraging the government-run community health strategy, as well as the high level of mobile phone technology penetration in Kenya will enhance the scalability and sustainability of the project. The target population for the proposed project is young mothers of children under the age of three years, and living in informal settlement settings in Nairobi. The proposed innovation also aligns with Kenya's health priorities that seeks to promote early child development and health and to minimize exposure to health risks.