TEMACC Ethiopia - Technology Enabled Maternal and Child Health Care in Ethiopia

The TEMACC research project aims to explore the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) for rural development particularly to improve healthcare access and quality for mothers and children in rural Ethiopian communities. It is an attempt to contribute to aspects of two of the sustainable development goals namely - SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; and SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. It is an interdisciplinary effort by professionals from the ICT fields together with specialists from public health and medicine. The objective is to develop an appropriate ICT-based service platform, which enables mothers to receive public health related information without the need to travel long distances; helps health extension workers to receive health education online or on their mobile devices by interacting with a specialist elsewhere without leaving their hometown or locality; allows collaboration and consultation among healthcare professionals, and creates virtual professional communities for improving maternal and child healthcare. The underlying research questions relate to whether there can be a significant improvement in maternal and child healthcare practices of rural communities using information and communication technologies. The research approach will be participatory action research with direct participation and active collaboration of the user community.