By 2014, there will be more phones on this planet than there are people, according to the United Nation’s telecoms agency.

That startling comparison gave birth to an idea:

Why not use mobile technology to give health information to plugged-in women, who often hold a child in one hand and a phone in the other?

The Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action is doing just that with an innovative text-messaging program that sends out information about pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood. The program launched this week in South Africa and is already in use in Bangladesh. India is next.

In keeping with its simple approach, the program is known as MAMA.

The program’s appeal boils down to several simple numbers. A shocking 21 children under the age of five die every minute of largely preventable causes. Three out of four people have mobile phone access. And in South Africa, the program is free for users of two of the country’s main phone providers.

An expecting mother might receive two to three messages a week. The messages provide encouragement, warning signs and important reminders from early pregnancy through the baby’s first year.

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