Maternal, Newborn, and Adolescent Health

The “The MamaBaby care project” at Makerere University in Uganda will improve care at birth by promoting early pregnancy testing at household level by community health workers, determination of expected date of delivery and linking to local transporters aided by GIS for referral during labour to empowered skilled attendants. Follow Peter Waiswa on Twitter @waiswap"

Bridging the vital communication gap between the community and health care facilities using modern and accessible technology with information power will result in timely care for vulnerable mothers and newborns to save their lives.

Project leaders at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia say the 29 million mobile phones in Peru roughly matches the population yet the use of information and communication technologies in health work with rural women who speak Quechua is unprecedented. An estimated 22% of Peruvians speak Quechua. Quechua is the language spoken in the rural Andes region and does not have a written component. Therefore, voice messages in Quechua will be sent to mothers with reminders for medical appointments, general pregnancy health tips and nutritional tips.

In the Philippines, some 44% of mothers give birth without a doctor. In this project, an affordable ultrasonic obstetric care solution will be developed to improve maternal healthcare for the rural Philippines. In partnership with the Provincial Health Office of Palawan, nurses and midwives will be trained to use portable ultrasound devices to screen for obstetric complications, and get access to medical professionals when diagnostic information is transmitted through cellular telecommunications.

Makerere University investigates whether integrating male partners to women in routinely provided prenatal care (antenatal and maternity services) increases birth preparedness, and if indeed this can affect perinatal outcomes for the mother and baby such as; unattended complications at delivery and baby’s apgar score at 1 minute following delivery.

Our project aims at working with 1500 households of pregnant women to save towards delivery and child care in the first six months after birth. Savings of a minimum of $0.50/day will enable the pregnant woman and her husband to acquire essential items needed by the mother and child at delivery including the mama kit, transport to a health centre for delivery, and access to medical treatment during pregnancy and after delivery.

Reducing maternal mortality using role model mothers, pregnant women peer support groups, provision of transportation and re-orientation and motivation of healthcare workers to address the three delays that cause maternal mortality in Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State.

We have a monitoring app to screen and track all women of reproductive age for risk factors of maternal mortality and enroll willing mothers in a baby clothing micro-enterprise that will donate clothing to mothers who deliver in health facilities.

Over the course of a year, we will reimagine, design, develop, and test a novel, mobile phone-based tool to support deliveries in India. This tool will help healthcare providers and supervisors of varying skill levels provide lifesaving delivery care.

Uganda has high maternal, neonatal and child mortality but the burden is highest in rural areas. Yet the rural areas are least served by health services, and are also least reached by effective behavior change communication for health. Available information is not culture and context specific and is rarely delivered in a sustainable manner. We therefore aim to evaluate the effect of use of locally made videos by local community groups in local languages as a channel for behavior change to improve maternal, neonatal and child health among rural communities in Eastern Uganda.