Safe for sex? Many impoverished, rural Indians are finding the answer in an SMS

A community meet by CycleTel under way. Photo credit: CycleTel.

“It is often men who pick up the phone and update us about their wives’ menstruation dates.”

Ramya Kancharla, who heads the CycleTel Humsafar family planning service in India, stumps me with that line! In the rural interiors of India, where any mention of menstruation is taboo, why would men be so forthcoming about information on their wives’ periods?

The answer lies in the persuasive powers of this free, mobile-based service that’s using the good old SMS to help people from lower economic segments and grassroots India plan out their families.

The name CycleTel, if you haven’t guessed already, is derived from a woman’s menstrual cycle. ‘Humsafar’ is the Hindi word for companion.

CycleTel determines when it is “unsafe” for a couple to have sex if they don’t want a pregnancy.

Since 2015, it has reached out to over 40,000 people in the northern region, including the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, besides Rajasthan and some working class areas of Delhi. Of these, 5,000 have registered themselves as users.

While that may seem like a drop in the ocean in a country of 1.2 billion people, Ramya sheds more light on the figure. “Around 60 to 65 percent of the users had never used any family planning method before,” Ramya tells Tech in Asia.

The program, funded by USAID, was developed by the US-based Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) at Georgetown University. The institute is involved in health initiatives worldwide. Ramya is country manager at IRH. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, she has been working in the field of public health for almost a decade.

“There is a huge, unmet need for family planning in India. Ours is a natural method, with no side effects, is free, and 95 percent effective.”

Ramya Kancharla, country manager at IRH. Photo credit: CycleTel.

Plus, it leverages the power of the SMS in a country that is increasingly taking to mobiles. “The SMS will work even if a phone doesn’t have data or wifi, and chances are that a family which earns US$146.50 or less will not have a smartphone anyway. This also provides a solution for a woman who may not be highly educated but needs family planning.”

A woman’s cycle

The men with mobile phones and their moms

SMS versus app