For some women, news about a new pregnancy might invoke feelings of immense joy and hope. For others, it might induce feelings of anxiety. For Makeuni-based and first-time mother Irene Mutheu, this new chapter brought about mixed emotions. This changed when she enrolled to Jacaranda’s SMS digital health navigator PROMPTS at her local facility in Wote.
Irene Mutheu at the Mother and Child Makueni Level 4 Hospital during an ANC visit. Photo by : Peter Thira
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is Inspire Inclusion. Inclusion is the bread and butter on which PROMPTS was built. The platform is free for mums, accessible via SMS (to mitigate the need for costly data charges and smartphone ownership), and available for enrollment at public facilities or through a local Community Health Worker.
Inclusion is also what the platform aims to achieve. Mothers like Irene receive personalized health messaging straight to their phones, empowering them to make informed choices about their pregnancy journeys, and connect with the services that could support them.
“PROMPTS helped me a lot.’ explains Irene.. ‘I constantly receive reminders about my prenatal care appointments and the importance of a balanced diet. It’s made me more confident in the lead up to delivery.”
They are also prompted to anonymously report on their experiences of care – from its clinical quality to the level of respect they received from the nurses. In Kenya, few formal channels exist to collect and share patient feedback on services, beyond exit interviews which are costly and hard to scale. PROMPTS amplifies the voices of mums like Irene to drive health system improvements by routinely sharing their feedback with hospitals and county health officials in a series of real-time co-designed dashboards.
Irene is among the many mothers who have benefitted from PROMPTS in Makueni County. Since the inception of the program in Makueni County in 2019, 93,261 mothers have been enrolled on PROMPTS. By empowering mothers to confidently take care of themselves and their babies, and share feedback that drives improvements in the services that support them, PROMPTS is #InspiringInclusion for mothers across Kenya, and beyond. .
