Summary

Mama Rescue is a cloud-based emergency transportation system that helps mothers access skilled & emergency obstetric care. Mothers use mobile-phone based vouchers to get transportation either from home to health center, or from health center to hospital, in an effort to reduce transport time.

Program goals

Mama Rescue provides emergency transport services for Ugandan mothers in labor. Transport is either from home to health center, or from health center to hospital. By efficiently managing transport, Mama Rescue reduces the three delays responsible for 75% of maternal death: 1) The delay in seeking care, 2) The delay in accessing care, and 3) the delay in receiving quality services.   By encouraging women to give birth at health centers with skilled midwives, promptly identifying drivers when emergencies arise, and improving communication between health centers and hospitals before patients arrive for surgery, we can reduce maternal and perinatal mortality even where resources are scarce.

Key program components

Mothers often put off going to the health center for labor, remaining at home longer than it is safe to do so. With Mama Rescue, each mother who completes four antenatal care visits receives an electronic voucher which grants her free transport by boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to the health center when labor begins. This part of the program both encourages women to complete four antenatal care visits, as well as to deliver in a health center with a skilled midwife.

Even when mothers deliver at the health center with a skilled midwife, complications can arise. Depending on the availability and working order of local ambulances, it can take hours for a woman in need of urgent medical care to reach the hospital. She is also responsible for paying for the transport. Mama Rescue ensures that the most efficient transport - either special hire taxi or ambulance, is alerted as quickly as possible, and that the ride is free.

Due to small and often overworked staff at local hospitals, women often arrive at a facilities where surgeons are not available or prepared to care for them. Mama Rescue prompts the midwife at the health center to enter important clinical information into her mobile phone, which is then transmitted to the referral hospital, so that the staff can be prepared for the mother when she arrives.