In this episode, Alexandrine Pirlot de Corbion, our Director of  Strategy, speaks to Nour El Arnaout, from the Global Health Institute,  American University of Beirut, Lebanon and Yousef Khader, from the  Global Health Development, Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network  and the Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and  Technology, Jordan, about digital health in the Middle East and North Africa and in particular digital maternal health and family planning  initiatives they are working on, the impact of gender inequality, and  the risks involved.

Nour El Arnaout is a division manager at the Global Health Insitute at the American University of Beirut, where she also co-ordinates the Institutes's  E-Sahha programme focussed on e-health and digital  health. She has more than 7 years experience in projects and programmes  management, operational management and research, and leads the  implementation of large scale field based projects in underserved communities in Lebanon including refugee settlements. She is working on a project called: The Gamification, Artificial Intelligence and mHealth Network for Maternal Health Improvement.

Yousef Khaderb is a professor of Epidemiology and biostatistics at the Faculty of Medicine at the Jordan University of Science and Technology, he is a fellow for public health at the royal college of physicians UK through distinction and has published more than 650 scientific papers in highly reputable journals. He is working on a project called: Governing Digital Personal Data to Strengthen Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Services Delivery in Fragile Settings in Palestine and Jordan.

Both projects are funded by IDRC: https://www.idrc.ca/en.

Links

- Read more from Yousef and Nour about their projects, and gender and power in maternal health: https://ai-med.io/analysis/context-gender-power-and-choices/

- Read more about Nour's project: https://ghi.aub.edu.lb/esp/

- You can read more from Yousef in the below papers which he contributed to:

        - Midwives and women's perspectives on family planning in Jordan: human rights, gender equity, decision-making and power dynamics: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34458635/

        - Perceptions Toward the Use of Digital Technology for Enhancing Family Planning Services: Focus Group Discussion With Beneficiaries and Key Informative Interview With Midwives: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34319250/

        - Do modern family planning methods impact women's quality of life? Jordanian women's perspective: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31615524/