NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Last week the Girls’ Globe team was in Addis Ababa for the International Conference on Family Planning. It was wonderful to interact with so many leaders in the fields of family planning and sexual and reproductive health. Many of the conversations and discussions that took place here centered on the use of mobile technology as a medium for creating greater access to family planning information and resources.

In Kenya, mobile technology usage is quickly becoming more popular especially in urban areas. Various family planning solutions utilize mobile phones to send simple SMS messages to generate surveys and to share important messages to increase access to, and awareness of, family planning services. While these solutions increase access to services, many rural health facilities lack ability to provide adequate service delivery. Rural health facilities often do not have the proper guidelines, information and resources to provide family planning services to women in need. Commodity shortages and the inability to track data are significant challenges.

In the past several years, Kenya’s Ministry of Health and reproductive health offices have sought to find innovative solutions to address these challenges. ZIDI, which in Swahili means “to exceed” is an innovative mobile application that improves the monitoring and evaluation of health services, including family planning, in dispensaries and clinics.