A Smart Mobile Pregnancy Management and Awareness System for Saudi Arabia

• Main Authors: Mohammed Alotaibi, Maram Albalawi, Layan Alwakeel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Association of Online Engineering (IAOE) 2018-09-01
• Series: International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies
• Subjects: mHealth; pregnancy; healthcare informatics; physical activity; wearable sensors
• Online Access: http://online-journals.org/index.php/i-jim/article/view/9005

<p>Over the years, physicians and other medical personnel have lamented the ever-increasing prevalence of physical inactivity and low awareness amongst pregnant women all over the world and especially in Saudi Arabia. The physicians argue that pregnant women are continuously placing their lives at risk by ignoring physical activity and low awareness. Similarly, the pregnant women who rarely participate in physical activity and awareness programs are accredited with risking the lives of their babies. As a result, professional medics have been trying to come up with innovative strategies that can promote physical activity and improve health awareness amongst the pregnant women for a long time. In recent years, the world has experienced a massive shift towards technology-based solutions for nearly every aspect of life.</p>In the health industry, mHealth has become a key trend as tech companies liaise with medical practitioners in pursuit of technological solutions to diverse health concerns. With this understanding, the current paper provides a vivid analysis of a newly-developed technological system designed to facilitating communication between pregnant women and healthcare providers, increase interactions amongst pregnant women, as well as motivate them to increase their participation in physical activities and remote monitoring of their babies. Unlike most mHealth initiatives that provide specific functionalities, the current system is an all-inclusive system offering a combination of all functionalities available through individual pregnancy monitoring systems. The newly-developed system aims to empower pregnant with enough awareness of pregnancy and also to do more physical activity using advanced technology of internet of things and mobile health technology specially in remote areas.