OmwanaThrive: Neonatal Health for Rural

Neonatal deaths in Sub Saharan Africa are the highest in the world, particularly in low-income and rural communities. Unlike other application programs, OmwanaThrive was developed specifically as an educational tool for the rural, community based clinician, midwife or health worker, operates on an Android tablet and does not require internet access. This unique application program provides the healthcare worker with easy to understand lessons on healthy newborn practices, a resource guide to accessible clinics, and a messaging system for the clinician to send to those women who have access to a mobile device. Our primary goal is to educate the rural woman about the importance of seeking medical care before, during, and after their pregnancy in order to optimize their babies’ health and reduce the high infant mortality rates that exist primarily for lack of education. 

Children are dying for lack of healthcare knowledge.

The first 28 days of a child’s life are its most vulnerable, and it is within this span of time that we see the most disproportionate rates of death and mortality (UNICEF 2019). Studies show that neonatal deaths are most prevalent in low-income, rural communities due to the existing barriers to access adequate maternal/infant education and health care services.  It’s time to address the disparities that exist between rural and urban policies and services. It is no small number of persons that live in these impoverished communities in the world, as over 650 million persons live in Sub Saharan rural communities on less than $1.90/day. In Uganda, 76% of the population, or 34.7 million people live in impoverished, rural areas that typically lack access to safe water, sanitation, and electricity. Our solution is to bring healthcare education into those communities. OmwanaThrive was developed specifically to address these significant issues that are causing millions of infants to die from preventable deaths before they reach 28 days of life.  

OmwanaThrive was developed specifically as an educational tool for the midwife, clinician or healthcare worker to improve connectivity with the rural woman, while educating her about newborn care.  There are numerous limitations that exist in a typical rural community, such as remoteness and lack of access to modern conveniences, such as safe water, sanitation and power, including internet access. Our design requirements included ease of navigation, lightweight, ability to work well in low resource settings, and most importantly operate without access to the internet. Our solution is an Android tablet that can be powered with a solar power charge bank whose application is an offline internet program that backs up to the cloud when internet is available. Using a tablet is optimum for displaying graphics.  Our program features 4 educational modules, including: mother self-care, lactation, hygiene and infant illnesses; a complete listing of nearby clinics with mapping; and a data record collection system that interacts with a messaging system that keeps mothers advised of important clinic appointments. With this multifunctional application our primary objective is to save lives.

OmwanaThrive is an educational tool for the rural, healthcare worker, to reduce the high infant mortality rates by teaching the rural woman about the importance of healthcare. This unique program, not only promotes healthy practices for both mother and newborn, but increases connectivity to accessible health resources and strengthens the existing network of midwives, clinicians and healthcare workers.

In developing our application program we took into consideration the limited literacy of the rural woman, so we incorporated more descriptive images as opposed to extensive text. Additionally, by focusing on tangible solutions and tips for preventable problems, we aim to emphasize the education of healthy practices.

By including healthworkers, midwives and clinicians in our program development we are improving relations between the rural community members that tend to cling to cultural traditions rather than safe and healthy practices.  We also are emphasizing the importance of hygiene, follow-up care and vaccinations.  The unique messaging system alerts the young mother about upcoming appointments and vaccination schedules. The ultimate goal is to remove those barriers that keep rural women from accessing healthcare facilities so that their infants will grow and live.

Rural communities have been overlooked for far too long. Neonatal mortality rates will not be lowered in rural populations until there is improved access to healthcare knowledge and connectivity to healthcare workers and facilities. Our solution is dedicated to breaking the barriers that exist towards healthcare access for the vulnerable, rural poor. We have taken technology to be utilized as a community based approach that serves as a platform for building confidence between the rural woman and healthcare providers so that infants will receive the proper care and live beyond 28 days of life.

This is an innovative approach to bringing in technology into areas that lack electricity or internet access. We will utilize the program as a portion of our Train the Trainers initiative which increases our outreach substantially into those areas that are extremely difficult to reach.

The technology used is actually using low resource units that work well in low resource settings. Lack of electricity and internet was a critical part of our design components.

We are working throughout the Southern portion of Uganda, in villages of Kanungu, Masaka, Buikwe, and Tororo. The clinics that are based in these areas serve 1,000 women each. Total number of people currently serving is 4,000 that will expand to at least 5 million in 5 years time.

We plan to deploy our pilot program throughout the Buikwe region within the next few months, as travel has been restricted up until recently due to the Coronavirus. As our program expands we will be incorporating the lessons into the Uganda school systems/ gender health programs.