A new program that sends free health information directly to expectant and new moms' mobile phones was launched Thursday at the Health IT Summit for Government Leaders in Washington, D.C.

Officials are touting the text4baby program as the first free mobile health service in the United States, with participants paying nothing to send or receive messages.

The program was developed through a public-private partnership between mobile interactive solutions provider Voxiva and the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB). The partnership includes the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Health and Human Services, CTIA - The Wireless Foundation and all major U.S. wireless providers, Johnson & Johnson, WellPoint, CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, Pfizer, AmeriChoice/United Healthcare, MTV, AmeriHealth Mercy, state and local health departments, and a broad range of national and community-level health organizations.

Women who are interested in signing up for the service can do so by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 and will receive free text messages each week, timed to their expected due date or baby's date of birth.

The text messages will focus on a variety of topics like birth defects prevention, immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, oral health and safe sleep. The messages will also serve to connect women to prenatal and infant care services and other publicly available resources.

"We believe programs like text4baby are critical to providing much-needed information and support to pregnant women and new moms, especially among underserved populations," said Brian D. Perkins, vice president of corporate affairs of Johnson & Johnson. "Voxiva's interactive mobile health platform and their many years of experience delivering mobile health solutions create a new way to reach expectant mothers who need important health information."

"Text4baby demonstrates the tremendous reach of mobile health technology and the ability of mobile phones to inform and engage people to help them live healthier lives" said Paul Meyer, chairman and president of  Washington-based Voxiva.  "These same tools can be applied to many of America's big health care challenges."

Studies have shown that mobile health applications can help smokers quit, HIV/AIDS patients adhere to treatment and diabetics manage their disease.  

According to CTIA over 90 percent of Americans in the United States own a mobile phone, and more than 1.5 trillion text messages were sent in the U.S. in 2008.

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