New Public-Private Initiative Leverages Mobile Technologies to Save One Million Lives in Nigeria

The mHealth Alliance announced today a new partnership with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health and Intel to leverage mobile computing and telecommunications technologies to support Nigeria’s Saving One Million Lives Initiative—an initiative launched in October by Nigerian President, His Excellency Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to drastically reduce the nearly one million deaths each year of women and children in Nigeria by preventable causes by 2015.

“Mobile technologies can be transformational as we move toward achieving our goal of improving access to essential primary health care services and life-saving commodities for some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations,” said Nigerian Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate. “We look forward to working with our partners to reach this ambitious target.”

Intel and the mHealth Alliance will work with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health and the Saving One Million Lives Initiative to develop and implement a plan to maximize the use of mobile technologies as part of the initiative’s work.  This collaboration will focus on improving the health and well-being for millions of women and children in a concerted effort to reduce the high number of preventable deaths currently being experienced in the country.

“This partnership, and the close cross-sector collaboration it entails, is an example of what it takes to move mHealth beyond hype to sustainable scale,” said Patty Mechael, Executive Director of the mHealth Alliance in her opening remarks at the 2012 mHealth Summit, which has gathered nearly 5,000 individuals interested in the convergence between the mobile technology and health fields.

“We welcome the vision, leadership and support of Dr. Pate and his colleagues at the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health and the National Primary Health Care Agency, and the specialized technical expertise, technologies, and market insights that our colleagues at Intel bring to the table,” she said.

The mHealth Alliance, a global catalyst for mainstreaming mobile technologies into global health, will lead activities related to promoting the enabling environment for mHealth-including assessing existing implementations, strategic planning to align technology with health targets, and advocating for the application of supportive standards and policies.

Intel, the global technology company, will bring its 1 Million x 2015 Health Program, including the Intel skoool™ Healthcare Education Platform, to bring 21^st century information and communications technology (ICT) skills-enabling tools and Anytime eLearning with digital content to train 10,000 frontline health workers initially with a view to national scale implementation—and inform critical aspects of engagement of both the work of the mHealth Alliance and others.

“There is huge potential to bring lower-cost mobile platforms to address critical gaps such as a shortage of skilled health workers across Africa,” said Rick Cnossen, director of Intel’s Worldwide Health IT Office. “The vision of the Nigerian Government and its collaboration with mHealth and Intel represents a potential template for many other nations.”

Nigeria’s work to leverage mobile technologies to reach its Saving One Million Lives target is supported in part by the Norwegian government.

# # #About the Saving One Million Lives Initiative 
The Saving One Million Lives Initiative is about saving lives and it is about people. The Initiative builds on existing policies, strategic documents and frameworks. The Initiative is a drive to focus on improving health outcomes, through strengthening the execution, performance management and delivery of Nigeria’s existing basic health services by setting clear, ambitious targets for real impact. With this approach, Nigeria will save one million lives (predominantly women and children) by 2015. There are three elements to this: (i) A steering committee comprising public, private sector and development partners to enhance coordination, transparency and mutual accountability for results and outcomes; (ii) A robust data management system to support performance management; and (iii) A Program delivery unit to drive execution and routines necessary for effective delivery.

About the mHealth Alliance
The mHealth Alliance champions the use of mobile technologies to improve health throughout the world. Working with diverse partners to integrate mHealth into multiple sectors, the Alliance serves as a convener for the mHealth community to overcome common challenges by sharing tools, knowledge, experience, and lessons learned. The mHealth Alliance advocates for more and better quality research and evaluation to advance the evidence base;  seeks to build capacity among health and industry decision-makers, managers, and practitioners; promotes sustainable business models; and supports systems integration by advocating for standardization and interoperability of mHealth platforms.  The mHealth Alliance also hosts HealthUnbound.org (HUB), a global online community for resource sharing and collaborative solution generation. Hosted by the United Nations Foundation, and founded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Vodafone Foundation, and UN Foundation, the Alliance now also includes PEPFAR, HP, the GSM Association, and NORAD among its founding partners. For more information, visit http://www.mhealthalliance.org.

About Intel Healthcare
Intel® technologies and innovations are driving developments in community, connectivity, and personalization* across the healthcare ecosystem to help a changing healthcare industry achieve affordable, integrated, people-centered care for all in the 21st century.