Expectant mothers, newborns to access emergency transport services in new initiative
Expectant mothers and their newborns will now access emergency transport services after the Ministry of Health on Wednesday rolled out the M-Mama initiative.
The initiative has been rolled out in partnership with the US government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Vodafone Foundation, Safaricom PLC and MPesa Foundation.
M-mama is an emergency referral system that swiftly transports pregnant women and newborns facing complications to appropriate healthcare facilities.
“It is estimated that 6,000 women and 35,000 newborns in Kenya die annually from various complications,” Health CS Susan Wafula said during the launch in Nairobi.
Also present were the Council of Governors Chair Ann Waiguru, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, US Ambassador Meg Whitman and USAID Administrator Samantha Power.
According to Vodafone, the M-mama system creates a network of local taxi drivers to act as ‘taxi ambulances’, in areas where ambulances are rarely available.
Through the initiative, a clinically trained dispatcher manages the referrals and confirms facility availability to ensure women and newborns in emergency situations can be promptly managed.
“M-mama will certainly catalyse health sector collaborations and partnerships for safe motherhood thereby accelerating the achievement of many of maternal and perinatal targets,” the CS said.
The initiative also recruits, trains and pays local taxi drivers to provide additional emergency transport options when ambulances are unavailable hence ensuring higher availability of transport for patients.
If a mother requires to be taken to the hospital, the nearest volunteer emergency driver is identified on the M-mama app and receives a request to take the woman to an identified health facility for stabilisation or treatment.
“The dispatcher calls ahead to ensure that the facility is able to treat the woman, diverting to a preordained alternative if needed,” Vodafone said.
“On safe arrival at the final treatment facility, the driver is paid instantly for the journey via MPesa (Vodacom's mobile money transfer system) or other approved mechanism.”
The service will be easily accessible through a free landline and mobile phone number.
According to USAID, M-mama has been shown to contribute to a 38 per cent decrease in the number of maternal deaths in the pilot countries in Africa.
“Since it was created by IN 2013, M-mama has transported more than 28,000 women and newborns and is conservatively estimated to have saved 900 lives,” a statement from USAID said.
The partners will work with the Kenya government to contribute Sh1.9 billion to set up the programme with USAID pledging to contribute Sh701 million while Vodafone Foundation and MPESA foundation pledging an additional Sh1.2 billion.
The US government has acknowledged that despite Kenya making progress in improving maternal and child health efforts need to be accelerated to reach the Sustainable Development Goal target of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
Currently, more 90 per cent of women are estimated to be delivering in healthcare facilities.
The deaths during birth have been attributed to a lack of timely referrals and transport for pregnant women and their newborns thus resulting in delays reaching healthcare facilities. BY THE STAR
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