Maternal, Newborn, and Adolescent Health

The purpose of this project is to integrate the WHO education material using mobile phone text messaging, and target pregnant women in remote rural areas in China. The aim is to reduce 4,700 maternal deaths and 63,000 infant deaths in China if the program, which is designed to be accessible and affordable, is successfully implemented.

With bleeding and infection being the two largest causes of maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa in childbirth, this project aims to distribute low-cost medication for women in rural Africa to take after delivery in the home setting, in hopes of saving many lives.

Preventing postpartum blood loss is a principle challenge to reducing maternal death in resource-scarce regions. Dr. Christian Kastrup's team at the University of British Columbia is developing an easy-to-use, low-cost technology toward this challenge. The technology uses self-propelling particles that rapidly travel through blood to clot blood and stop bleeding.

The project will identify, treat and reintegrate 4000 fistula clients, and equip and enhance them with skills and knowledge in theater productions, marketing and advocacy to become champion interveners. We seek to alter social norms away from fistula stigma and transform the conventional health system for improved livelihoods.

This project will create a clinic-based, midwife-led basic ultrasound system to identify high-risk third trimester pregnancies that should be referred to an emergency obstetric facility for delivery. Such conditions may include common causes of obstructed labour, and antepartum and postpartum hemorrhage.

Poor transportation for referral of women with obstetric emergencies is one of the avoidable factors to reduce maternal mortality. This project will deploy motorized three wheeler vans (Mom's Van) in selected rural areas in Bangladesh and Burkina Faso. Each van will be connected through a cell phone and will be managed through a community oversight committee. If successful, the project will generate evidence as a future model of transport intervention to reduce maternal mortality for large scale evaluation and sustainability. Follow Nazmul Alam on Twitter @NazmulAlamm"

Patricia Garcia of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru will aim to understand the needs for point-of-care diagnostic tests for antenatal and child care in developing countries, and to develop and test a model for enhancing rapid and sustainable uptake of these tests using social and business innovation, which could have a significant impact on maternal and child health globally.

M-Ultra is a low-cost ultra sound scan system targeting first referral units of government health systems, rural clinics and mobile/outreach healthcare initiatives which cater to base of pyramid population in low-resource countries. As a point-of-care diagnostic tool aiding early diagnosis, M-Ultra can lead to saving a millions of lives each year. Follow Emprenure Labs on Twitter @EmprenureLabs"

A low-cost “safe motherhood insurance program” being started in the Philippines to overcome financial barriers that often delay poor women from getting appropriate care in labour. Working with insurance companies, the project represents a novel potential business model to further reduce the rate of maternal mortality worldwide.  For more information visit www.pbsp.org.ph"

A combination of poverty, malnutrition, illness and a lack of stimulation at home puts at risk the cognitive development of millions of children in the developing world. Operating in an urban slum of Bangladesh, women trained within this project will make 13 home visits in a child's first year of life to counsel parents on infant feeding and psychosocial stimulation - an integrated, sustainable, cost-effective approach potentially able to be implemented through the existing health system in Bangladesh.