Peru | Colombia | Venezuela

Mobile telephones, women and healthcare

Within Latin America, the exponential growth in mobile telephones offers a host of new opportunities for healthcare access and education among the poor. This is especially true for poor women, who play a major role in keeping their families healthy. But despite this potential, healthcare providers still have difficulty reaching socially vulnerable populations. 

“Venezuela has the highest penetration of mobile phones in the region, and almost all young people have one,” said Isaac Nahon-Serfaty. “Our next steps are to find out whether mobile phones are the best way to reach young women, and what kind of messages would be most effective to keep them healthy.”

Using LACREG funds for the preparatory stages of a larger regional study, the Canadian researchers teamed up with counterparts from Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, as well as with healthcare providers and administrators from these same countries. As a starting point, researchers sought to understand the factors influencing the integration of mobile telephony into healthcare service delivery.

Researchers investigated day-to-day mobile telephony and communication practices of women in impoverished communities within specific districts of Lima, Bogota and Caracas. They also looked at healthcare practitioners and administrators in community clinics serving these areas. Building on their results, researchers obtained funding from a Venezuelan source to design and implement a pilot health initiative.