Technology Pill

Maternal Health and Family Planning in the Middle East: Gender and Power

Technology Pill

Show Notes

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/

More from Technology Pill

Oct 2, 2026

From Spiderman, to Toy Story, to One Night Only, this week we’re talking about some of the summers biggest and weirdest movies, as we think about the use of technology and surveillance in film. Links - Silicon valley has a science fiction problem: https://aeon.co/essays/silicon-valley-has-a-science-fiction-problem - One night only Guardian review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/05/one-night-only-movie-review NY Times review: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/movies/one-night-only-review.html

Sep 4, 2026

This week we're talking about how the militarisation of tech is shaping civic spaces and what 'dual use' technology actually means with Sophie from Corporate Watch.

Aug 7, 2026

This week we're talking to Marianne from SMEX about their new report looking at the differing dynamics of producing, testing, and deployment of militarised technology across the Southwest Asia and Northern African region (SWANA).

Jul 3, 2026

This week we're discussing borders, biometrics and more, as we take a look at what kind of surveillance you might experience if you're traveling to the World Cup, or to the EU schengen area. Acronyms - ETIAS: European Travel Information and Authorisation System (new for visa exempt; no biometrics - run by a central unit operated by frontex; this is where manual checks carried out if automated checks flag problems) - VIS: Visa information System (obvs for visas; age lowered to 6? - will soon check other systems) - EES: Entry/Exit system (biometrics on entry; records all border crossings) - CIR: Common Identity Repository (only non-eu citizens; weak anti-discrimination; identity info from visa and ta - data from other databases lives here and is used for purposes beyond travel e.g. police checks in country) - Eurodac: (all asylum seekers, and trying to add undocumented migrants) - ECRIS-TCN: European Criminal Records Information System for Third-Country Nationals (data on non-EU citizens convicted in one or more EU member state) - SIS: schengen information system (an EU database for police, judicial and border control/cooperation, to see whether they are wanted by the police or subject to an entry ban; checked on crossing external schengen border inc eu citizens) - MID: Multiple-Identity Detector - SLTED: Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database (checked on crossing external schengen border inc eu citizens)

Jun 19, 2026

This week we're joined by Bill Goodwin, investigations editor at Computer Weekly and award-winning journalist, to discuss Europol's secret shadow IT system — and what it tells us about how law enforcement agencies evade oversight. Links Computer Weekly investigation: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642525/They-protect-the-law-while-breaking-it-Inside-Europols-shadow-IT-system We Are Solomon: https://wearesolomon.com/en/mag/focus-area/accountability/they-protect-the-law-while-breaking-it-inside-europols-shadow-it-system/ Privacy International's 2019 FOI on Europol: https://privacyinternational.org/report/3225/challenging-drivers-surveillance-eu-access-documents-requests Spanish police and cryptophone intercepts: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643318/Spanish-police-systematically-hid-cryptophone-intercepts-from-courts-claims-ex-chief Bill's case Goodwin v United Kingdom: https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/goodwin-v-united-kingdom/ The Independent — Reporter's rights violated: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/reporter-s-rights-violated-1438583.html Horizon Parliamentary committee on Horizon redress: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/365/business-and-trade-committee/news/212661/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-serious-structural-failings-persist-in-redress/ Bill at TCIJ on breaking the Horizon story: https://tcij.org/summer-conference-event/breaking-horizon-post-office-scandal/

See all episodes →