25th August 2016 The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communication (MEIDECC), in partnership with the Asia Development Bank, today launched an innovative mobile phone based health information service that aims to ensure Tongan babies and infants first 1000 days of life – from conception until age two – are as healthy as possible.
Launched by the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, the ‘First 1000 Days’ is a free mobile phone based service that provides important health information for women who hope to become pregnant, who are pregnant or who are a mother of a child under two. Women can subscribe to receive tailored messages by simply texting 6684 and following the prompts. Once subscribed, women will receive free, tailored health messages three times a week.
The Deputy Prime Minister Hon Siaosi Sovaleni said the mHealth project was an important component of the government’s overall E-Government program.
“We are here today to launch this mHealth project, which is an important component or application of the Government’s overall E-Government program. It is an initiative and an effort whereby one day soon government will be providing its services online,” he said.
“This initiative delivers on MEIDECC’s mandate to consolidate and strengthen using ICT to deliver better government services otherwise referred to as E-government.”
“The First 1000 Days SMS initiative represents the beginning of a USD10 million-dollar investment in M-Health by the Asian Development Bank, this investment will be led by MEIDECC in partnership with the Ministry of Health and reflects a strong move towards Tonga’s vision for effective and efficient on-line government systems and services.”
Hon Sovaleni urged the public to use the service to give children a health start to life as simple as texting baby to 6684.
The service provides tips about how to ensure a healthy pregnancy, including how to manage the risk of diabetes in pregnancy, how to manage weight and nutrition in childbearing years and how to ensure children under two are provided with the best nutrition possible, which starts with breastfeeding.
Discussing the rationale for the focusing on the ‘First 1000 Days’, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola, Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Health said that “There is growing evidence about the importance of the ‘First 1000 days’ of life in managing a child’s risks of developing obesity, heart disease and diabetes in later life, for example babies born to overweight or diabetic mothers, or who receive poor nutrition in early life can be at increased risk of obesity, diabetes or heart disease in later life.”
The CEO further noted that “93% of Tongan women aged 25-44 are overweight and our rates of diabetes in pregnancy are double that of countries such as Australia – this represents a potentially unmanageable pipeline of disease for Tonga”.
The ‘First 1000 Days’ SMS m-health initiative is an important component of Outcome 1 (Tongan infants have a healthier start to life) of the Hala-Fononga National Strategy to Prevent and Control Non-Communicable Disease 2015-2020 and was made possible by the support of the Australian Government and the Tonga Health Promotion Foundation.
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Issued by the: Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications