{"id":1239746,"date":"2022-10-31T15:50:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T15:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/10\/31\/ringing-for-life-using-telephony-to-curb-under-5-mortality-in-ghana\/"},"modified":"2022-10-31T15:50:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T15:50:11","slug":"ringing-for-life-using-telephony-to-curb-under-5-mortality-in-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/10\/31\/ringing-for-life-using-telephony-to-curb-under-5-mortality-in-ghana\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringing for life: Using telephony to curb under-5 mortality in Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The current under-five mortality rate in Ghana stands at 79 per 1000 live births.<\/p>\n

However, Ghana has the highest mobile penetration in West Africa and already outdoes many of its regional counterparts.<\/p>\n

Caregivers in hard-to-reach areas in Ghana are using mobile phones to improve child survival.<\/p>\n

Afia Osei, a petty trader at Akutuase in the Asante North district of the Ashanti region of Ghana can\u2019t afford to let her 1-year-old daughter sway from her side.<\/p>\n

Though she\u2019s gone past the weaning stage, she\u2019d allow her to latch onto the little reservoir of milk left in her chest for a while.<\/p>\n

A month ago, she nearly lost her to convulsion, a condition locally termed as \u201cAsram esuro\u201d, where a child between the ages of one and five experiences a sharp rise in temperature, convulsing with a clenched fist.<\/p>\n

Asram is a traditionally-defined childhood illness complex in Ghana, which has been associated with spiritual causes, rather than physical or biomedical.<\/p>\n

Research carried out by Dr. Princess Ruhama Acheampong of the School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in 2022 established 10 different types of these diseases, of which \u201cAsram esuro\u201d is one of the most prominent.<\/p>\n

\"Ringing
Dr. Princess Ruhama Acheampong says Asram<\/em>\u00a0is perceived as a spiritual disease which isn\u2019t meant for the hospital and contribute significantly to under-5 mortality. Photo: Kwasi Debrah<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The traditional belief surrounding the management of this condition forbade Afia from carrying her own baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know if a mother carries her baby, the baby is likely to die,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, I had to call for one of my neighbours to take her to a traditional healer.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Princess, for this type of \u201cAsram\u201d, the children normally spend close to a week at an \u201cAsram\u201d healer facility.<\/p>\n

They are usually treated with a concoction of herbs. She however noted the patients are referred to the hospital when they see little improvement.<\/p>\n

Though there have been many successes, she reveals many other children end up dying in the course of the treatment.<\/p>\n

Afia, however, was lucky, as her daughter got better on the third day of treatment.<\/p>\n

Under-5 scare<\/strong><\/p>\n

The current under-five mortality rate in Ghana stands at 79 per 1000 live births.<\/p>\n

These deaths are a result of preventable diseases including malaria, upper respiratory infections, diarrhoeal-related diseases and asphyxia.<\/p>\n

One of the principal causes of these deaths stems from delays in seeking healthcare among caregivers.<\/p>\n

An epidemiologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo observes these caregivers lack the capacity to identify and pick up early symptoms of disease in their children for early intervention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe caregivers are not able to report early to a health facility and this results in the demise of their wards,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

Telephony to the rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, mobile adoption in Ghana stood at 55 per cent, higher than the regional average of 44.8 per cent.<\/p>\n

This means many people can be served through digital services, impacting positively on the growth of the digital economy.<\/p>\n

\"Ringing
Source: GSMA Intelligence<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, a well-functioning health system with a robust Health Information System (HIS) could easily respond and deliver real-time data for the management of most of these preventable childhood illnesses, amid increased mobile phone use in Ghana.<\/p>\n

The Mobile phone-based Interactive Voice Response IVR system called MobChild, a collaboration between the School of Public Health, KNUST and Esoko Ghana and funded by the International Development Research Centre seeks to complement and strengthen existing health information systems for early detection of childhood illnesses.<\/p>\n

The IVR technology seeks to empower caregivers to identify the health problems of their children for early intervention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo who is the principal investigator of the project, the caregiver calls into the system which responds in the local language, and on the basis of the symptoms, they will be directed as to what action to take.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mother dials 0800 711 711 and after dialing she\u2019ll receive a voice prompt message on what\u2019s wrong with the child. And she has to follow the prompts and the system will pick the symptoms. The system is designed on common disease symptoms of children under 5,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

This has been made possible through the training of health workers who go into the communities to teach the caregivers how to utilize the system.<\/p>\n

\"Ringing
Charlotte has been teaching the mothers how to use their mobile phones to access Mobchild<\/strong>. Photo: Kwasi Debrah<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Women empowerment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mansah, a mother of 3, knows as soon as any of her children become sluggish, it\u2019s time to visit a health facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids like playing a lot. If I notice they\u2019re quiet and feverish, I know they\u2019re not well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, she wasn\u2019t able to take the children to the hospital all by herself, she had to seek her husband\u2019s consent before seeking healthcare. Now, after using the system for a while, she\u2019s overcome that.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if my husband isn\u2019t around, I simply call in and I can even take them to the hospital, if need be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ringing
Mansa is happy she can single-handedly seek healthcare for her children<\/strong>. Photo: Kwasi Debrah<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Data availability<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data unavailability in sub-Saharan Africa has affected many health outcomes. But the advent of Mobchild has changed all that.<\/p>\n

One of the investigators on the project, Dr. Aliyu Mohammed, is optimistic Mobchild has addressed the issue of health data unavailability.<\/p>\n

He revealed since the rollout of the project in 2019, a total of 2,045 calls were recorded by the system as at 2021. Of the registered calls, there was an overall uptake of 66%.<\/p>\n

Again, out of the total calls made to the system, over 1400 were unregistered-without prior registration by the system but managed to make calls for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cMobchild was conceptualized to among other things make data available to the district health management team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

All caregivers accessed the system for health advice regarding what to do with their sick children.<\/p>\n

A community health nurse at Akutuase CHPS compound, Rose, notes the system has been very crucial in healthcare planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt help has really helped us to plan especially when we\u2019re going for drugs. You get to the under-5 cases and by doing so, we get to the drugs we need to have and how to educate them during the normal routine home visits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

District health director of Asante Akim North, Roland Mia revealed his outfit has been employing the platform to seek support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have even used that as a yardstick to write proposals for support. It has been very useful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ringing
Roland is happy with how Mobchild has helped the directorate seek support<\/strong>. Photo: Kwasi Debrah<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Going forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

With preventive health at the heart of the system, Dr. Princess Ruhuma Acheampong who was a PhD student on the project said, they have introduced health education prompts twice a week via the phone on health care seeking and nutrition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are educated twice every week on how they can identify danger signs in their children and another on nutrition,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

Kwame, a teacher who attests to the system\u2019s benefits, is however appealing for free distribution of mobile phones to caregivers who can\u2019t afford it.
\u201cI\u2019ve been telling my friends of the benefits, I\u2019ve gotten out of the Mobchild. I\u2019ve been urging them to use the platform,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the people can\u2019t afford mobile phones and that can hinder their access to this system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Ringing
Kwame wants mobile phones distributed among the less-privileged to maximize the gains<\/strong>. Photo: Kwasi Debrah<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ghana is still struggling to meet the SDG target. Hopefully, the Mobchild system which allows parents to seek and receive diagnosis and treatment of their sick children in the comfort of their homes would take Ghana there. That would mean a concerted effort by the government and other stakeholders to upscale it nationwide.<\/p>\n

DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current under-five mortality rate in Ghana stands at 79 per 1000 live births. However, Ghana has the highest mobile penetration in West Africa and already outdoes many of its regional counterparts. Caregivers in hard-to-reach areas in Ghana are using mobile phones to improve child survival. Afia Osei, a petty trader at Akutuase in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1239748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12144,85,696,13302,10381,17725,28303],"class_list":["post-1239746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-curb","tag-ghana","tag-life","tag-mortality","tag-ringing","tag-telephony","tag-under5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1239746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1239746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1239746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1239746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}