Upcoming Webinar: Using ICT Approaches to Generate Demand for RMNCAH

In support of the United Nations Commission on Life Saving Commodities for Women and Children (UNCoLSC), the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3), with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is hosting a three-part webinar series focused on increasing demand for life-saving but underutilized reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) commodities.

The first webinar focused on integrating gender especially working with men and boys for RMNCH programs and the second webinar in this series will focus on highlighting pioneering programs that have expertly used Information and Communication Technology (ICT) approaches to generate demand for RMNCAH products and services. This webinar, to be held on March 9 at 9 am EST, will bring together technical experts in ICT and RMNCAH programming to share best practices and experiences in developing ICT approaches as independent programs or to strategically integrate them into existing programs where they complement RMNCAH program efforts and boost program outcomes.

Three dynamic RMNCAH and mobile health focused projects will be presented during this exciting webinar. Larissa Jennings, PhD, MHS, a behavioral scientist who studies the role of economic- strengthening interventions in mitigating sexual and reproductive health disparities, will discuss global lessons on how mobile technology can be used to improve reproductive and sexual health. Next, Marcha Bekker and Matthew de Gale from the The Praekelt Foundation will discuss MomConnect South Africa and describe how that system is working to simultaneously address demand and supply-side approaches in order to be truly responsive to the needs and feedback of the users. Durba Gogia, a National Program Officer with CCP India, will present results from a recent study completed on Gyan Jyoti, an android-based application designed to empower CHWs with access to scientifically developed SBCC films produced for affecting behavior change in the community and promote self-learning.

Register for the webinar now.

About the Speakers:

Larissa Jennings, PhD MHS, is a behavioral scientist who studies the role of economic-strengthening interventions in mitigating sexual and reproductive health disparities, including HIV prevention, among marginalized youth and young adults. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Social and Behavioral Interventions Program of the Department of International Health. Dr. Jennings’ research focuses on decreasing sexual and reproductive health disparities through economic-strengthening interventions among U.S. racial minority and African youth. Read more about Larissa here.

Matthew de Gale is the product Manager of MomConnect – the Praekelt Foundation’s national scale maternal health messaging and system strengthening platform. Matthew works on implementations in South Africa. Uganda and Nigeria, dealing with both partners such as UNICEF and the National Department of Health, as well as the engineers and designers that built and improve our platform.

Marcha Bekker is the head of business development for Praekelt Foundation. Marcha’s background is in Sexual and Reproductive Health – specifically HIV/AIDS management and she has worked in Praekelt Foundation’s health portfolio since 2008. Her role now is to help expand the MomConnect-type model of using mHealth tools and platforms to create population-scale programs in RMNCH, across Africa and beyond.

Durba Gogia is a National Program Officer for Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs India. She is a Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) specialist with a passion for social development. With more than 11 years of creating insightful communication with both corporate and development sectors, Durba has a nuanced understanding of the processes involved in developing communication strategy and content.