Project Lead(s): Prestige Makanga
Poor access to maternal care services is a known determinant for low rates of facility births and adverse maternal outcomes. In Zimbabwe, 73% of maternal deaths are attributed to delays in accessing care, resulting from long distances and travel times to health facilities, limited transport options and lack of transport funds for maternal care. Roads become hard to navigate during the wet season due to precipitation and floods, leaving many pregnant women vulnerable to poor maternal outcomes. The Road-MApp project is a mobile app to help women access maternal health care and facilitate transportation of pregnant women to care. Road-MApp accounts for road and weather conditions in near-real time, and links women to local transport resources that are available to facilitate their transit to maternal care. Goals include establishing micro-savings groups to finance the process, a 25% increase in use of health facilities during pregnancy, and a 10% increase in in-facility deliveries.