MotherSafe

A Life Saving Program of NYAGI

Every 2 minutes…

Every 2 minutes, a mother dies from complications of pregnancy — the equivalent of 2 fully loaded 747 jumbo jets crashing every day with no survivors. Most of these deaths are avoidable.

NYAGI partnered with 7D Imaging, a software developer, to develop an accelerated, prenatal ultrasound teaching program. We first collaborated with One Heart Worldwide in Nepal and CARIS Foundation in Haiti providing in-person training for maternal healthcare providers from clinics across Nepal and Haiti. The COVID pandemic forced us to pivot our teaching to online remote training.

NYAGI is now partnering with Tanzanian Midwife Association (TAMA) and AfyaConnect to teach prenatal ultrasound skills via remote learning to help providers identify high-risk pregnancies. Next, we plan to begin teaching in Nicaragua, Senegal, and Ecuador.

Indira Khatri, 23, with her second child. She lives is Thokarpa, Nepal an hour’s walk from a small clinic and 4-5 hours drive on rough dirt roads from the nearest advanced medical facility.

Need

Maternal Mortality

  • 80 percent of Nepal’s population lives in remote, rural areas.

  • Many mothers in low-resource areas navigate their pregnancy and give birth unassisted.

  • Checkups or treatment centers are sometimes weeks of foot travel away.

  • Many maternal deaths are caused by complications that, if identified and planned for, could be preemptively managed.

OB-GYN Dr. Steve Rotholz and NYAGI founder Dr. Cliff Gronseth used Fetus Ultrasound Examination Phantoms to teach basic OB Ultrasound to doctors in Tanzania via Zoom from Boulder, Colorado. Learn more about how you can support this effort here.

Approach

Expert sonographers provide remote and hands-on ultrasound training to Skilled Birth Attendants and donate re-purposed iPads with obNAV software.

This provides ultrasound confidence for the trainees plus tools for advancing knowledge and skills.

Nepalese midwives learn the obNAV educational software alongside hands-on training with their new ultrasound probes.

Impact

With NYAGI’s help, One Heart Worldwide can support basic ultrasound imaging in more than 50 remote clinics across Nepal, elevating the proficiency of its Skilled Birth Attendants and bringing much needed confidence to medical services for women and children during pregnancy and childbirth. The availability of ultrasound encourages women to come in and have a prenatal scan. When they do, it gives Skilled Birth Attendants and nurses an opportunity to also discuss nutrition and other health-related topics.