Cell Based Protocols for Safer Deliveries

Marc Mitchell of D-tree International in the U.S. will develop and test a mobile phone-based tool using clinical algorithms that rapidly identify women at risk during labor and delivery and facilitate emergency transfer to a hospital. The tool is a combination of phone decision support, data storage, on-line banking, and communications on a single device at the point of care, and it could significantly reduce maternal mortality in low-income countries. During Phase I, this project demonstrated that training traditional birth attendants to use the phone-based application in targeted districts in Zanzibar, Tanzania increased facility-based deliveries and post-partum care by reducing the informational, logistical, and financial barriers to such services. During Phase II, Mitchell and his team will scale this intervention to all of Zanzibar and also test its impact in another country.