Journey of a Thousand Miles: Harnessing mobile communications technology to solve problems in maternal health and child mortality in Balochistan, Pakistan

The arid desert and mountainous region of Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan, representing 44% of the land mass but with only 5% of the total population. Poverty remains widespread with the poorest households surviving on US$35 per month or fewer [1]. Located in the southwestern half of the country bordering Iran, it is the worst performing of Pakistan's four provinces in most, if not all, of the targets set out in the United Nation?s Millennium Development Goals first defined in 2000. And while Balochistan?s progress is off track and below the national average in areas such as hunger and poverty, universal primary education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability, it is especially lagging in maternal health and child mortality [2].