The most dangerous day of a woman’s life is the day she gives birth. When a pregnant mother or her newborn are in distress, minutes matter. Nearly 300,000 women die each year from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes, mostly in low-and middle-income countries. In many hospitals, pregnant women with serious but treatable conditions may wait in line for hours or even days to see a doctor. This delay can result in severe complications and even death, for both mothers and babies.
In Ghana, an organization named Kybele is working to change that. They have developed an innovative system called the Obstetric Triage Implementation Package (OTIP) to help hospitals and health centers recognize, triage, and monitor danger signs in pregnant women. Supported by Grand Challenges Canada, this innovation is saving lives by streamlining emergency care for mothers and newborns.
As World Health Day 2025 spotlights maternal and newborn health with Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures, Kybele’s work exemplifies this year’s focus on ensuring healthy beginnings for mothers and babies. By targeting the critical “moment of arrival,” they demonstrate how practical, locally-led solutions can transform maternal care and help end preventable deaths during childbirth.
In the critical minutes after a pregnant woman arrives at a hospital, her survival can hinge on how quickly she’s assessed. Delays at this stage are often called the “third delay”, which means the delay in receiving adequate care after reaching a health facility. It follows two earlier delays: the delay in deciding to seek care and the delay in getting to a health facility. However, it is the third delay that is responsible for nearly 75% of maternal deaths – a tragic gap in care that is often preventable.
Kybele, OTIP simulation game
Kybele’s integrated triage package targets the challenges of the third delay and includes the rapid assessment of all women, prompt prioritization of women at risk, and the creation of high-quality treatment care plans. The heart of the system is deceptively simple: colour-coded wristbands—red, yellow, green—paired with a triage protocol that prioritizes care based on the severity of a patient’s condition.
The innovation has already seen impressive results. Waiting times have dramatically reduced with 85% of women now assessed within 10 minutes, up from just 5% before the introduction of OTIP.
“The day of birth is one of the most dangerous days in a woman’s life,” explains Erin Pfeiffer, Kybele’s Grants Manager “Two-thirds of maternal deaths are preventable. We saw the delays when women arrived at hospitals already in crisis and waited far too long to be seen. This system helps to address that.”
With Transition to Scale funding from Grand Challenges Canada, Kybele has expanded the program to six regional hospitals and has now partnered with the Ghana Health Service to scale nationally. The system has so far been rolled out to 60 hospitals across the country. According to Kybele, nearly 2500 health workers have been trained, helping to reach over 60,000 women with life-saving triage care. Kybele expects to reach two million women by 2030.
Kybele’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. In 2024, the organization received the Ghana Health Service Excellence Award for OTIP, recognizing the program’s significant impact on reducing waiting times for pregnant women and improving maternal and newborn health outcomes across Ghana.
Kybele’s evidence-based, locally led model proves that thoughtful, cost-effective innovation can save lives.
