The wireless providers and the government in the U.S. have all come together to take care of the pregnant women and the new mothers. A free text messaging service for pregnant ladies and those with small children will provide relevant health information without any cost.
Voxiva, a vendor of consumer health applications for mobile computing devices, has developed a service called the text4baby which will be a first ever free mobile health service in the United States. The service has been launched by a alliance of mobile phone service providers, health professionals, and federal, state, and local agencies that include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Health and Human Services, CTIA – The Wireless Foundation and all major US wireless providers like the AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Alltel, Boost Mobile, Metro PCS, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile USA, state and local health departments many national and community-level health organizations and more.
Aneesh Chopra, the federal chief technology officer and associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the service saying, “Text4baby represents an extraordinary opportunity to expand the way we use our phones, to demonstrate the potential of mobile health technology, and make a real difference for moms and babies across the country.”
Women may sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411. They will then receive free text messages each week, until their expected due date or baby’s date of birth. The messages will deal with a variety of topics critical to maternal and child health, that would include birth defects prevention, immunization, mental health, seasonal flu, nutrition, oral health and safe sleep.
More information is available at text4baby.org.
