Arlene Samen

Multiple projects in MLI focus countries were among the 77 finalists in the “Savings Lives at Birth” Grand Challenges competition sponsored by USAID and partners. The projects were displayed at a Development Exchange last week in Washington, DC. The Challenge gave groups working in Nepal and Mali the chance to compete for funding to expand the scope of their operations.

In Western Nepal, One Heart World-Wide (OHW), a San Francisco based NGO, uses a “Network of Safety” to teach pregnant women and members of their communities in remote rural areas life saving skills they can apply during delivery. In conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Population in Nepal, the group pilot tested the Network of Safety in the Baglung District with positive results, according to OHW Executive Director Arlene Samen. “We feel that if the women themselves don’t understand the importance of pre natal care, who their health provider is, how far away they are, and have a delivery plan, then the husband doesn’t support her in changing behavior and the community doesn’t come behind her and support her--that’s where women fall through the gaps,” she explained.

OHW is seeking to expand its program to other areas in the country and to introduce the use of a uterine balloon tamponade to control post partum hemorrhage. The device is placed in the uterus and filled with liquid. It reduces bleeding, giving caregivers up to 24 hours to transport the woman to a facility for further care, Samen explained.

Another group working in Nepal proposed testing the effectiveness of a mobile information and communications technology platform that would allow registration and monitoring of pregnant women in hard to reach areas. Luke Mullany of Johns Hopkins University, one of the partners in the project, said the program would increase the ability of female community health volunteers to connect pregnant women with facilities where they could receive more advanced care. “The Ministry of Health and Population is looking forward to a time when [female community health volunteers] may play more of a role as a link between the community and the facilities rather than continuously being burdened with more and more commodity delivery,” Mullany said.

Aga Khan Foundation, USA, proposed an enhanced communications network for Mali. Yacouba Kone of the Foundation explained that the project would provide mobile phones to 30 communities in rural areas in the country to help health workers communicate better with local facilities. The phones would aid in collection and transmission of data to clinics and facilitate communication with higher-level health workers when complications arise. The system would allow identification of high risk deliveries and aid in transporting vulnerable women to facilities ahead of their due dates.

Another project proposed for Mali involved field-testing Smartphone based mobile ultrasound devices. UltraSound4Africa proposed studying the efficacy and effectiveness of the device, which would allow remote areas to connect with specialists and facilitate early diagnosis of complications, better case management and faster referral of difficult cases.

Innovations such as these have the potential to lead to health improvements as access to services in Mali is increasing. Over the past year Mali’s Ministry of Health, with support from MLI, has been decreasing financial barriers to care through the expansion of community based health insurance and free care initiatives for certain services such as C-sections. With increased access, developing countries can fully take advantage of the technology and innovations seen at the “Savings Lives at Birth” Grand Challenges competition.