Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jan 11;7(1):e6.
doi: 10.2196/resprot.7912.

Development of a Maternal, Newborn and Child mHealth Intervention in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam: Protocol for the mMom Project

Bronwyn McBride  1   2 , Liem Thanh Nguyen  3   4 , David Wiljer  5   6 , Nguyen C Vu  3 , Cuong K Nguyen  7 , John O'Neil  1
Affiliations

Development of a Maternal, Newborn and Child mHealth Intervention in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam: Protocol for the mMom Project

Bronwyn McBride et al. JMIR Res Protoc. .

Abstract

Background: Ethnic minority women (EMW) living in mountainous areas of northern Vietnam have disproportionately high infant and maternal mortality rates as a result of low maternal health knowledge, poverty, and remoteness from low-capacity health centers.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the protocol for the development and evaluation of the mMom intervention, which is an integrated mobile health (mHealth) system designed to improve maternal and infant health knowledge, and behavior among women in remote areas of Thai Nguyen, Vietnam.

Methods: This project featured the following four phases: (1) development of an mHealth platform integrated into the existing health management information system in partnership with the provincial health department; (2) ethnographic fieldwork and intervention content development; (3) intervention piloting and implementation; and (4) evaluation of the intervention's impact on participants' maternal health knowledge, behavior, and interactions with the health system.

Results: The mMom project development process resulted in the following: (1) the successful development of the mMom system, including the mHealth platform hardware and integration, the intervention plan and content, and the monitoring and evaluation framework; (2) the piloting and implementation of the intervention as planned; and (3) the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation framework components.

Conclusions: This protocol outlines the development of the mMom intervention and describes critical next steps in understanding the impact of the intervention on participants and the wider health system in Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam.

Keywords: Vietnam; health equity; maternal health; mobile health; reproductive health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

References

    1. World Bank. 2017. [2017-03-01]. Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate, per 100,000 live births) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.MMRT?end=2014&locations=VN&st... 6phK5eC1C.
    1. World Health Organization. 2015. [2017-03-01]. Vietnam - maternal mortality in 1990-2015 http://www.who.int/gho/maternal_health/countries/vnm.pdf 6phKQ6yRC.
    1. Dang HA. Vietnam: a widening poverty gap for ethnic minorities. Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development. 2012 Apr 15; doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139105729.008. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2346307 - DOI
    1. General Statistics Office. 2011. [2017-12-18]. Viet Nam population and housing census 2009: age-sex structure and marital status of the population in Viet Nam https://www.gso.gov.vn/Modules/Doc_Download.aspx?DocID=13286 6vo2AEyL2.
    1. World Bank. 2011. [2017-12-18]. Vietnam - multiple indicator cluster survey 2011 final report http://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/1308 6vom5lYIp.

LinkOut - more resources