Thanks to your support, Ipas helped thousands of South African women realize their reproductive rights and live healthier sexual lives. The project’s success is the result of collaboration with youth, youth leaders, health-care providers, provincial officials, and a local partner specializing in mobile technologies. Nearly 3,000 South African women accessed medical abortion information through SMS messages, and more than 92,000 people accessed sexual and reproductive health information on their mobile phones through the Ipas mobi-site. This figure includes 10,000 people from 18 other countries, many in sub-Saharan Africa. Thirty-one youth and youth leaders participated in the official launch event at a North West province youth center. Throughout the project period, this group worked to engage women and youth visiting the youth center who were interested in signing up for the SMS messages, while encouraging them to access the mobi-site.

Prior to the launch, the SMS messages were tested for clarity and understanding by recipients. Our network of health-care providers supported nearly 1,800 women who signed up to receive supportive text messages on medical abortion after initiating services in a clinic. During six trainings, Ipas trained providers from 23 facilities in four different provinces to support medical abortion clients. Project partners also helped to distribute 23,500 leaflets and 400 posters that advertised the SMS messages as well as the mobi-site.

Get personal

We conducted an evaluation with 67 women who signed up for the SMS messages. One young woman said, “I did not feel so alone even if it was an SMS, encouraging, comforting, SMS is not judgmental.” Another said, “I didn't need any friend because the SMSs were there for me. They really helped me.” A provider said, “These SMSs have an advantage because if she has a problem she is able to get information more easily. These SMSs also remind them about the things we talk about in the counseling room.”

Risks and challenges

Since close partnership with the provinces is integral to the project’s success, the project was delayed initially due to numerous demands faced by the provincial officials. We are pleased that we were able to negotiate timelines and complete the project despite these conflicts.

What we’ve learned

This project underscores the importance of working closely with health-care providers. Their commitment was essential to informing women about the SMS messaging service. The providers participating in the mHealth project also established a share group using the digital platform Whatsapp, allowing providers in all four provinces to share information, updates, and support one another. They agreed that the SMS service can be useful for other health services as well. We also learned that the mobi-site can serve as a very useful quick reference tool for a variety of stakeholders.

Next steps

Ipas’s office in South Africa is closing its doors. However, we hope that the providers will continue to implement their mHealth activities and expand on their interest to include content on other reproductive health services. Ipas is continuing its global mHealth efforts to expand our reach and provide critical sexual and reproductive health care to women and girls in the many countries we serve. See www.ipas.org for more details!

Budget