“CCPF provides pregnant women and mothers in our most rural regions with first-hand, quality healthcare information they may otherwise not have access to.”
A Lifeline for Family Health
In remote and rural communities, distance often prevents people from seeking health care when they need it. In a country like Malawi with one of the highest rates of maternal, child, and infant mortality in the world, knowing where and when to seek care is critical to reducing maternal and child mortality rates. Chipatala cha pa Foni (CCPF) is a toll-free health hotline in Malawi that creates a link between the health center and remote communities. CCPF is staffed by trained health workers who provide information and referrals over the phone. Originally developed as a maternal and child health innovation, CCPF has evolved to become a general health hotline, covering all general health topics including nutrition and sexual and reproductive health in accordance with Ministry of Health guidelines. Through CCPF, women and caregivers can also sign up to receive personal text or voice reminders on maternal and child health topics specific to their month of pregnancy or their child’s age. CCPF for Adolescents extends the platform for HIV prevention with youth friendly health services and information for sexual and reproductive health.
CCPF has two main components:
In 2013, an independent evaluation found that CCPF contributed to statistically significant improvements in maternal and child health indicators, per:
Mercy, a 24 year old pregnant woman from the Dailesi village in Balaka, was saved by a phone call when she went into labor and could not reach the nearest health center, 12 km away.
Elina found out she was HIV positive during her pregnancy. She used tips and reminders for guidance during and after her pregnancy, and is grateful for the support CCPF gave her when she had questions about caring for her baby. Read Elina’s Story
CCPF runs on a technology platform specifically designed to meet the challenge of low resource communities. Together with our partners, VillageReach developed the requirements for and built the associated technology components needed to support the program including:
Use of the service has increased significantly since its launch in 2011. CCPF currently covers nine districts in Malawi and is accessible to over 5 million people.
With the support and partnership of Africa’s largest mobile carrier, Airtel, CCPF continues to grow toward national scale. The Malawi Ministry of Health (MoH) endorses CCPF and is currently in the process of transitioning operations from NGO VillageReach to the Ministry with the goal of completing national scale up of Airtel CCPF to all districts by the end of 2018. An official Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the Ministry of Health, laying out the government’s commitment to fully own and operate the service.
Contributions from strategic partners and individual donors support the infrastructure improvements and partnership development required for scaling.