THE IMPACT OF MOBILE APPLICATIONS ON MATERNITY EDUCATION: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF KENYA

Abstract

Maternal health mortality refers to death that occurs during pregnancy, pregnancy termination, at birth, or within the first two months of the birth. According to World Health Organization (2015), the average number of maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa was 239 for a population of 100,000 people, compared to 12 in the developed countries in 2015 despite that health organizations worldwide had aimed to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by 75% from 1990 to 2015. To reduce maternal mortality in Africa, this research developed a mobile health application system that provided maternal health information and education to pregnant mothers in rural Kenya so that mothers could identify problems early on in their pregnancies. A quantitative survey of these mothers showed high satisfaction, usability, and systems effectiveness ratings of the mobile health system. These insights will benefit policy makers to promote mobile health to help improve maternal education and reduce maternal mortality.