Maternal, Newborn, and Adolescent Health

To increase health-system capacity to prevent newborn deaths using evidence-based measures, Partners In Health has developed the All Babies Count (ABC) model, an intensive 18-month change acceleration process. The ABC model - instead of focusing on a single change strategy - creates sustainable impact by re-orienting the culture of the health system to continuous quality improvement (QI).

A reliable, low-cost screening tool to identify high-risk cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) patients is of paramount importance especially in resource-limited areas where a timely referral to a medical facility for assisted delivery or cesarean section would make the difference between saving the life of mother and child and potential loss of both patients. To address this pressing need we propose to develop and test a simple, ultra-low cost portable technology using off-the-shelf Microsoft Kinect sensor to quantify an obstructive score to identify women at high risk for CPD.

The Pratt Pouch, a foilized, polyethylene pouch (similar to a ketchup pouch) designed and proven to safely store NVP doses, offers an innovative way to expand NVP coverage. The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and its partners propose to introduce and scale up the Pratt Pouch in antenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care services in Uganda. Integrating this technology into existing services will simplify dosing and ensure all HIV-positive women have access to infant NVP.

In this proposal, we describe an assistive medical device that dramatically reduces the training required to administer subcutaneous contraceptive implants (a long-term form of contraception). The device ensures accurate insertion of the contraceptive implant and minimizes the risk of incorrect placement (a major concern during implant removal). Through use of this device, community healthcare workers (prevalent in rural areas of LMICs) would be enabled to administer a crucial form of long-term contraception and increase access to an underserved population.

We have developed a sustainable barcode-based incentive system that encourages "loyal health visits". Pilot proof was undertaken for child and mother vaccinations with strong evidence that our Barcode Mother and Child Wellness Card innovation could very quickly elicit a positive behavioral response for immunization adherence in low resource smallholder settings.

We will seek to demonstrate measurable levels of the first inhalable formulation of oxytocin in blood and measurable biological effects of inhalation, all this with no seriously adverse side effects. Success will provide the essential platform for the further steps required to move into a first clinical trial. Our ultimate goal is licensure and distribution in affected areas: providing every mother on the planet with access to a life-saving drug when in labor.

The project will scale-up distribution of the Lucky Iron Fish: an innovative, affordable, and clinically-proven solution to iron deficiency. The fish have a compliance rate of 90% and reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency by ~50%. We will integrate business, health care and university-based expertise to create a different service delivery and carry out research into the impact of the fish on iron status in women with HIV. We will promote an integrated approach that will change service delivery to some of the poorest people in urban areas including HIV positive women.

Salt is universally consumed at a constant, predictable level independently of social status. Our approach is to develop innovative technology for incorporating these micronutrients into salt at levels that can have a significant beneficial health effect. Our objective is to develop a stable premix in the laboratory, test its long-term stability in salt, and scale up the process for premix production in pilot scale tests in India.

Often faced with financial, nutritional and political insecurities, the majority of women struggle to care for their own and their children's health. To address this, we developed a peer-support model that groups pregnant women together in the same community to receive maternal and child health services, called Chama cha MamaToto (chamas). Central to our approach is the integration of health, social and financial literacy education with a savings/loans program.

Diagnostics For All will develop a sensitive, low-cost, rapid, paper-based microfluidic diagnostic test to screen pregnant women for anemia, HIV, HBV, and syphilis, from one drop of blood. This antenatal care (ANC) test panel will ensure that women who attend ANC at least once are tested for the most critical diseases and provided results on the spot. This ANC panel could improve maternal and child health outcomes for up to 31 million pregnant women in the developing world and their children.