Grameenphone singed an agreement with D.Net, a social enterprise and Coalition Coordinator of Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MaMa) initiative at a simple ceremony held at GPHOUSE on 16th May 2011. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Access to Information (A2I) Programme at Prime Minister's Office are official partners of the initiative.

MaMa is a global alliance under which an innovative health information service has been designed in Bangladesh utilizing mobile phones to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes.  As part of the new United States Global Health Initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has catalyzed the formation of a public-private coalition in Bangladesh to support the implementation of the service. This service is going to be available over all networks after completion of pilot.

Tore Johnsen, CEO Grameenphone and Dr. Ananya Raihan, CEO D.Net signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

Grameenphone also supported Safe Motherhood & Infant Care (SMIC) project through USAID's 320 Smiling Sun Clinics across the country from 2007 to 2010. The SMIC project served around 1.7 million services free of costs to the economically disadvantaged mothers & their children under 1 year of age. Grameenphone also provided 10 ambulances to the project in order to facilitate emergency referral during critical pregnancies and help Skilled Birth Attendants (SBA) for Home delivery.

Under the leadership of the Government of Bangladesh, MaMa will deliver life-saving health messages to Bangladeshi women and their families. Mobile health messages are designed to quickly and easily disseminate information that will inform women of ways to care for themselves during pregnancy, dispel myths and misconceptions, highlight warning signs, connect women with local health services, reinforce breast feeding practices, explain the benefits of family planning, and make new mothers aware of how best to care for their babies. Currently in its design/test phase, MaMa will build and scale a platform to provide both audio and text health messages to pregnant women and new mothers, which will be available through all telecom networks.

Corporate Communications Department
Grameenphone Ltd.
Telephone: 9882990
Website: www.grameenphone.com