[blparent] texting

[Veronica Smith]

Healthy baby campaign uses texts to reach mothers. By MATTHEW PERRONE. AP
Business Writer. WASHINGTON     (AP) -- Expectant mothers are getting a new
tool to help keep themselves and their babies healthy: pregnancy tips sent
directly to their cell phones. The so-called text4baby campaign is the first
free, health education program in the U.S. to harness the reach of mobile
phones, according to its sponsors, which include Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer,
WellPoint and CareFirst BlueCross and Blue Shield. Wireless carriers
including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have agreed to waive all fees for
receiving the texts. Organizers say texting is an effective means of
delivering wellness tips because 90 percent of people in the U.S. have cell
phones. Especially if you start talking about low-income people, cell phones
are the indispensable tool for reaching them and engaging them about their
health," said Paul Meyer, president of Voxiva, a company which operates
health texting programs in Africa, Latin America and India. Studies in those
countries have shown that periodic texts can reduce smoking and other
unhealthy behaviors in pregnant mothers. Meyer said the U.S. program, run by
Voxiva, will be the largest health-related texting program ever undertaken.
Under the new service, mothers-to-be who text "BABY" to 511411 will receive
weekly text messages, timed to their due date or their baby's birth date.
The messages, which have been vetted by government and nonprofit health
experts, deal with nutrition, immunization and birth defect prevention,
among other topics. The messages will continue through the baby's first
birthday. Text4baby is expected to be announced Thursday morning by
officials from the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Government officials will be publicizing the campaign in speeches and
promotional materials. Organizers hope the effort can curb premature births,
which can be caused by poor nutrition, excessive stress, smoking and
drinking alcohol. About 500,000 babies are born prematurely in the U.S. each
year, and 28,000 infants die before their first birthday, according to the
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. The nonprofit is among the
sponsors of the campaign. The real scary thing is that we're an
industrialized nation and we're not doing very well on infant mortality, and
we know prematurity is a big part of that," said the group's director, Judy
Meehan. Currently the U.S. ranks 30th worldwide for infant mortality,
according to Meehan, behind most Western European nations. Researchers at
the George Washington University have agreed to evaluate the effectiveness
of text4baby by measuring health trends for mothers and newborns.