The GHS-Mp4H is a private-public partnership between Tech-Valley Gh, an Accra-based Ghanaian health promotion non-governmental organisation and the GHS to provide reliable health care messages to targeted clients and the public on their mobile phones and other mobile technological devices.

Mr Johnson Kisses Ahortor, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Executive Project Ambassador, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said “it is a health educational campaign designed to educate pregnant women to ensure their safe motherhood at all the stages of their pregnancies”.

The primary aim of the project is to help in the reduction of maternal and child mortalities in the country, Mr Ahortor said, adding it had come to improve maternal and child health care through the dissemination of health information via the use of the mobile phone.

The service would give important messages that would increase knowledge on key health issues to enable subscribers to see doctors quickly on their health concerns, he said.

Mr Ahortor said for a pregnant woman to register, she would only text “Mother” to the short code 1880 and wait for a system response and then text the age of the pregnancy whether in weeks or months for enrolment on the system. He said the subscriber would be given a daily pregnancy care tip beginning at when the pregnancy is five weeks old till the day of delivery on Vodafone, MTN and Tigo networks.

Mr Ahortor said lactating mothers enrolled on the system would only text the age of their babies in weeks or months to the same short code to be given health tips on what to do and at what time. He said the messages would always be available in English, Twi, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani, Gurune and Dagaari languages together with automatic calls to remind clients of their next visit to various health facilities.

Mr Ahortor said currently, there are over 5000 subscribers on the system receiving timely key messages of pregnancy and child care, saying in Brong-Ahafo, the target is zero record of maternal and child deaths by 2020. Earlier addressing the forum of about 120 midwives from the 27 districts in the region, Dr Osei Kuffour Afreh, a Deputy Regional Director in charge of Public Health, said despite the efforts of the Ministry of Health, GHS and other stakeholders, maternal and child mortalities are being recorded in the country.

He lauded the project and urged the midwives to approach its implementation with all seriousness as part of their routine activities in health facilities.