A South African non-governmental organisation has turned to technology to help avoid the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. The solution: digitised patients records and communications network.mothers2mothers (m2m) is working with HP to be able to use database technology and cloud and mobile services to digitise patient records and communicate effectively within the M2M network to properly guide counsellors to help mothers.For a continent with millions of pregnant women with HIV, this partnership is significant. Technologies from HP are the foundation for an efficient digital management system that starts with digitising patients' records which can be shared among counsellors across the m2m network of more than 700 sites in sub-Saharan Africa.

The patient records will contain up-to-date information on patient treatment plans and advanced reporting tools for faster and more effective access to information. This will allow m2m to move quickly with interventions.

Gene Falk, co-founder and chief executive officer, mothers2mothers, said the IT support from HP "will enable us to serve women much more effectively through improved knowledge and insight".

Interventions

m2m interventions include proper counselling to pregnant women through "Mentor Mothers". These are mothers also with HIV but have completed their pregnancy. They have been trained to serve as peer mentors and educators to other women with HIV.

Data show that without any intervention, 40 per cent of pregnant HIV-positive women will pass on the virus to their babies.

Intervention also includes a single dose of medication to a mother during labour and a dose to her infant shortly after birth. This single intervention can cut transmission risks nearly by half, according to Avert, a UK-based international HIV and AIDS charity also working to help prevent HIV and AIDS transmission worldwide.

Phase 2 of the project will involve mobile phone technology. Through mobile devices, m2m staff can collect and share data from the field to feed into the digital system to further scale the operations and move quicker.

Global initiative

The support for m2m is part of HP's global health initiative. HP has been working with entrepreneurs and NGOs to lend their expertise in enterprise computing, cloud and mobile computing to build solutions that can help save lives.

Said Gabriele Zedlmayer, vice president, Office of Global Social Innovation, HP: "Global health is one of the last frontiers for IT transformation and holds immense promise for significant improvement to the quality of care available through the appropriate application and use of technology. With mothers2mothers' rich understanding of health challenges in Africa, we can transform the lives of women in Africa and provide greater hope in winning the fight against HIV/AIDS."

The Silicon Valley icon recently announced a similar initiative on HIV, this time with Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). The project aims to improve the speed of HIV diagnosis for infants in Kenya.