Uberlance: Private-Public Emergency Rideshare for Maternal Child Health (By WelTel)

Uberlance is a private-public mobile-App based rideshare program which is envisioned to facilitate the provision of lifesaving transport to expectant pregnant women in remote resource-limited settings where traditional ambulances are not well managed and scarce. It borrows the successful independent business models of other rideshare programs globally, where private vehicle owners can meet certain standards and be linked to customers. In this case, vehicle owners who transport expectant mothers to hospitals for skilled delivery, or for complications before or after pregnancy, can charge a premium if they meet those standards (e.g. modify their vehicles for improved patient transport and obtain first aid training and accreditation). WelTel’s first mobile health (mHealth) application, supported for transition to scale by Grand Challenges Canada phase II, provides an effective communication link between outpatients and the MNCH clinic and is achieving its goals of improving engagement in antenatal care (ANC); however, it helped identify an unresolved problem - the need for physical assistance. In this largely rural, vast pastoralist area, transport is a major challenge where many rely on informal, inefficient methods of rideshare or simply do not attend the health facilities, resulting in preventable morbidity and mortality. This new application explores the bold opportunity to rework health transportation to save lives.