Project Lead(s): Lisa Avery
Globally, about 289,000 maternal deaths occur each year, 9 percent of them due to obstructed labour. Obstructed labour also contributes to 2.6 million stillbirths and 2.7 million newborn deaths annually.
Using a partograph, a graph-based paper tool that records key maternal and fetal data during labour, could help avert these outcomes, yet globally, partographs remain underutilized due to limited graphing skills and a lack of an organizational culture that supports their use.
To address this gap, innovators with the University of Manitoba will develop and implement a novel graphless partograph, with on-site mentoring delivered in partnership with local government at facilities in the county of Taita–Taveta in Kenya.
The project embraces an Integrated Innovation® approach by combining science (the evidence-based, low-cost, simple tool will promote the uptake of knowledge and skills), social (mentoring by local quality improvement teams will identify and address cultural and organizational factors that impede implementation and uptake) and business innovation (insertion within local health systems and alignment with county and country priorities will promote sustainability and scaling).
If successful, the initiative could be scaled up across county and national platforms, helping to address inequity and transform the lives of women and newborns by improving the quality of essential maternal and newborn health services in Kenya.
