Health Education Program Collides With Mobile Innovation

Expectant and new mothers now have access to a tool to help keep themselves and their babies healthy – free informational tips sent to their cell phones.

Recently, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) launched Text4baby, a free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health.  Text4baby provides pregnant women and new moms with information they need to take care of their health and give their babies the best possible start in life.  Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth.  Since the launch, over 10,000 women from all 50 states have been registered for the program.

According to its sponsors, the text4baby campaign is the first free, health education program in the U.S. to utilize mobile phones.  Among the sponsors are three Healthcare Leadership Council members:  Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and WellPoint. 

I would like to commend these three organizations for taking part in such an innovative health outreach program.