title: Harnessing information technology to improve women's health information: evidence from Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  More than half of Pakistani women are illiterate, marginalized, and experience myriad health problems. These women are also disadvantaged in terms of their restricted mobility and limited access to public space. Nonetheless, user-friendly information and communication technologies (ICTs) have opened up new opportunities to provide them with information that is essential for their health and well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  We established an Information and Communication Centre (ICC) in a village in Sialkot (Pakistan) on a pilot basis in 2009. The basic philosophy of the ICC was to provide women with health-related information by exposing them to modern sources of information on their doorstep. By design, the ICC was a community-based and community-managed institution where women could access information through online (e.g., internet, mobile phone etc.) and offline (e.g., CDs, TV etc.) resources. The ICC was managed by a group of local volunteer women who had the capacity and skills to use the devices and tools of modern ICTs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We noted an overwhelming participation and interest from local women in the activities of the ICC. The women wanted to receive information on a wide range of issues, from family planning, antenatal care, and childcare to garbage disposal and prevention of domestic violence. Overall, the ICC was successful in initiating a meaningful "information dialogue" at community level, where much-needed information was retrieved, negotiated, mediated, and disseminated through intimate and trusted relations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that ICTs have the capacity to cross the barriers of illiteracy and can reach out to disadvantaged women living under a conservative patriarchal regime.
authors.forename: Rubeena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zakar
authors.forename: Muhammad Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Zakar
authors.forename: Shazia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, P,O, Box 100 131, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany. f.fischer@uni-bielefeld.de.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fischer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D040421:Cell Phone; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care; D003142:Communication; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods*; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010154:Pakistan; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012424:Rural Population; D013672:Technology; D013690:Television; D018505:Waste Management; D014930:Women / Q000193:education*; D016387:Women's Health / Q000193:education*; D055815:Young Adult