Hesperian Health Guides Launches First Ever Digital Tools to Deliver Life-Saving, Accessible Health Information to Global Communities
Publisher of the Landmark Book, Where There Is No Doctor, Bridges Global Health Information Divide With New Digital Commons and first Pregnancy Childbirth App for Community Health Workers
(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) Berkeley, CA - Hesperian Health Guides, the non-profit publisher of Where There Is No Doctor, the most widely-used health care manual worldwide for community health workers, educators, and Peace Corps volunteers and others, once again leads the way in delivering life-saving, relevant, and easily accessible information to the people who need it most. Hesperian’s new suite of digital tools, developed in partnership with UnaMesa, using an open-source platform, tap the power of technology to help people with little formal education and limited computer literacy who increasingly rely on cell phones as a life-saving resource.
Hesperian’s Safe Pregnancy and Childbirth mobile application is the first ever pregnancy app designed for use by community health workers in areas with limited economic resources. The app provides information on everything from prenatal health to what to do in case of malaria or an emergency situation like a breech birth. Chapters from The New Where There Is No Doctor and Hesperian’s acclaimed Where Women Have No Doctor in a new easy to download and edit digital format, plus a downloadable library of Hesperian’s beloved community health drawings, completes the suite of tools in Hesperian’s open-copyright Digital Commons. The tools allow community health workers to access life-saving information easily and quickly, collaborate to shape and adapt the content to their needs, and share it with others. “Rural areas in developing countries that lack basic infrastructure like roads, clean water, and health care often have access to cellular technology, even in the most remote communities,” said Sarah Shannon, Executive Director, Hesperian Health Guides. “Cell phones can become a lifeline, bringing much needed access to health information to more communities than ever before. A woman about to give birth can use this information to save her own life, and her baby’s life. ” About the tools: 1. Pregnancy and Safe Childbirth mobile application for iPhone:-
Presents life-saving information in a clear, accessible, richly illustrated style
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Intuitive navigation is designed to be easy for anyone, even individuals with low computer literacy, to use
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Once downloaded, the information can be accessed without an Internet connection
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Covers topics such as prenatal health, danger signs during pregnancy and birth, and includes 20 how tos for a variety of situations during birth.
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Easily searchable in 10 languages with cross links between different languages for use in mixed language communities
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Powered by the technology that powers Wikipedia under an open copyright policy that allows anyone to use and adapt the information for their own circumstances and location
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Lets users download nearly 10,000 medical and health related images to create customized health materials.
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Search terms by topic, gender, ethnicity, and keywords