MundoComm: Information communication technology for maternal health in Costa Rica and Latin America

: 2.022_TEC MundoComm: Information communication technology for maternal health in Costa Rica and Latin America D.J. Ossip, E. Avendaño, S. McIntosh, J. Perez-Ramos, T. David, M. Demment, L. Miller, R. Benchoam, T. Dye; University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA, Universidad de Ciencias Médicas, San Jose, Costa Rica, State University of New York at Brockport, Brockport, NY, USA Project Purpose: Funded by the United States National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center in 2015, the overall goal of the MundoComm project is to develop an innovative training program to enhance the ability of community-based teams in Latin America to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) to improve maternal health. Though improvements have been made in child health in Latin America, progress in reducing maternal mortality has stalled or worsened. Evidence indicates that technological innovation, including ICT, can impact maternal mortality. Based in Costa Rica as a regional technology hub, MundoComm builds upon our group’s 16-year partnership among researchers in the US, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. Design: MundoComm faculty from the United States, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic will train a total of 8 communitybased public health teams over 3 years, with each team participating in a 1-year mentored course of training and follow-up. Training includes monthly interactive on-line modules, and 2 in-person week-long short courses in Costa Rica. The goal for each team is to develop and test an innovative ICT project to address a local maternal health problem. A “collaboratory” environment will provide ongoing mentoring and support. A mixed methods qualitative/quantitative research component will provide data on the cultural context of the maternal health problem and ICT readiness. Summative and formative evaluations will evaluate the training model and ICT innovations resulting from trainees’ projects. A conference in year 03 will facilitate sustainability of the MundoComm network. Outcome: Four year 01 teams, from Costa Rica (2), Dominican Republic (1), and Honduras (1) completed the first short course in October 2015 that included training in bioethics, use of ICT for maternal health improvement, ICT options (e.g., PhoneGap, OpenMEAP, Epi-Info, Cloud Computing, social networking), and project planning. Baseline evaluation of the 12 participants indicated gaps in knowledge of ICTs, with the highest familiarity reported for social networking (Mean: 3.3/5). Post training evaluation indicated increases in knowledge across course content areas. To date, MundoComm has demonstrated the ability to recruit and train public health teams across Latin American countries to generate ICT-based projects to address local maternal health problems. Funding: Funded by NIH Fogarty International Center R25TW009697 (Dye, Ossip MPI). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Abstract #: 2.023_TEC: 2.023_TEC Engaging students in global health interprofessional education P.G. Patel, C.M. Miller, C.A. Satterfield, M.M. Dacso; Center for Global Health Education, University of Texas Medical Branch, Gal-