Before the advent of Rapid Short Message Service, she used SMS only to reach family and friends, little did she know that the same texting application would save lives of many babies.

Teredia Uwihoreye, a Community Health Worker (CHW) from Rugero Sector in Nyabihu District, is part of the 45,000 CHWs across Rwanda that have greatly contributed toward reducing maternal and child mortality rates.

She talks about her work with a lot of enthusiasm. She remembers each pregnant mother, and the babies whose lives she has helped saved. She has been able to save 162 babies using Rapid SMS.

Rapid SMS is one of the innovations that have boosted smart health in Rwanda. With Rapid SMS, Community Health Workers are able to report on antenatal care visits, pregnant women with risks, report death of a child or a mother, and a simple text will avail an ambulance even in the remotest parts of Rwanda. It has increased antenatal care visits, effective follow-up of pregnant mothers, helped in identification of children with malnutrition and addressed many challenges related to maternal and child health.

According to the Rwanda Demographic Health Survey (RDHS 2014-15), infant mortality rate in Rwanda is 32 per 1,000 live births. Under-5 mortality rate is 50 per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality declined from 50 deaths to 32 deaths per 1,000 live births between the 2010 and 2014-15. Under-5 mortality has declined from 76 deaths in 2010 to 50 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014-15, neonatal and post neonatal mortality rates are 20 deaths per 1,000 live. Reports from the Ministry of Health and UNICEF indicate that Community Health Workers play a key role in attaining such achievements.

Like many Community Health Workers, Uwihoreye echoes the joy that comes with being part of a team that saves lives of mothers and babies. "You cannot stop the joy when you see that the short message you sent has saved the life of a baby. This is why I call it magic,” says Uwihoreye. Through a message sent to a code, 3103, Uwihoreye was able to notify the nearest health centre about a risky situation of an expectant mother. She immediately received an instant reply explaining the action to be taken. "The health worker at the health centre decides on the next step depending on the indicators and after looking at the history of pregnancy for any unusual situations,” she adds.

With the Rapid SMS, a health worker details the history of the mother’s pregnancy from the first day of her visit to the health centre for antenatal care and uses this history until birth, thus helping to address most unusual occurrences which have been claiming lives of mothers and babies.

During a recent community outreach campaign in Nyabihu District, officials from the Rwanda Biomedical Centre disclosed that mothers had come to understand the importance of being registered in the system and that sensitisation campaigns will continue in other districts to ensure uptake of Rapid SMS, adding that, although the system is very helpful, most women do not register in the system during early pregnancy which makes tracking them difficult.

Theoneste Uwanzwenuwe the Mayor of Nyabihu District, says that through the Parents’ Forum (Umugoroba w’ababyeyi) at the village level, the district has endeavoured to ensure that all mothers are sensitised on the importance of the Rapid SMS system.

"Our primary target is women but we also involve the men and educate them on the importance of early registration in Rapid SMS for the system to track the history of the pregnancy,” he said.

The Rapid SMS system is also part of the ‘1000 Days’ campaign launched by Ministry of Health in 2013 to fight stunting and malnutrition among children in their first 1000 days. 

Rapid SMS is one of the community approaches operated by Community Health Workers across Rwanda to address the delay in accessing maternal, new born and child health care.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw