Article
The Mail & Guardian reports on RapidSMS, a joint initiative of three UN agencies, including Unicef, being tested in Rwanda’s Musanze District, where 432 health workers have been given phones. They register pregnant women in their villages by free text and send updates to a central server in Kigali, which helps spot high-risk pregnancies and speeds emergency responses; in one case an ambulance arrived within about 15 minutes. The hospital in Ruhengeri reported no maternal deaths since the August 2009 launch, compared with ten the year before. Plans call for 17,500 maternal health workers and eventually all 50,000 community health workers, though electricity, charging and network coverage remain challenges.