The Issue
Approximately 15% of births around the world result in life‐threatening complications during pregnancy, delivery, or the postpartum period. These complications often lead to preventable maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, particularly in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) where 99% of maternal deaths occur.
Globally, the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality remains a major challenge to overcome. Additionally, ensuring that midwives have the skills required to provide quality of Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC) has proven to be of key importance to reducing the death and disability of mothers and newborns. However, there is often a lack of key BEmONC skills and knowledge among skilled birth attendants in LMICs.
The Safe Delivery App
Today the primary method for building critical BEmONC skills of skilled birth attendants involves paper-based methodologies and classroom training. However, studies have shown that there are clear best-practice methods of BEmONC training, which include more repetitive and remote training formats and that learning occurs in an environment as close to the practice setting as possible.
At the same time, there is a massive increase in access to mobile phones in LMICs and it is estimated that within a few years there will be more mobile phones subscriptions than people on the planet. Leveraging these proven best practices and trends, Maternity Foundation in partnership with Copenhagen University and University of Southern Denmark developed an innovative mobile training tool, The Safe Delivery App (the App). Through simple, animated clinical instruction films and action cards, the App guides skilled birth attendants on how to manage both normal and complicated deliveries.
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Evidence shows that health workers using the App significantly improve skills, knowledge, and confidence in identifying and managing obstetric complications. The App facilitates improved and more cost-effective skill building of skilled birth attendants and creates instant access to clinical guidelines in a user-friendly format. The fact that the guidelines are accessed on a smart device has further proven to be appealing to the end user group – the frontline midwives. The App can be used as a job-aid, a training and/or refresher training tool and to support mentoring and onsite training. It can thus be implemented across the continuum from pre-service training of midwives, through in-service job aids and training tools.
The Safe Delivery App
Today the primary method for building critical BEmONC skills of skilled birth attendants involves paper-based methodologies and classroom training. However, studies have shown that there are clear best-practice methods of BEmONC training, which include more repetitive and remote training formats and that learning occurs in an environment as close to the practice setting as possible.
At the same time, there is a massive increase in access to mobile phones in LMICs and it is estimated that within a few years there will be more mobile phones subscriptions than people on the planet. Leveraging these proven best practices and trends, Maternity Foundation in partnership with Copenhagen University and University of Southern Denmark developed an innovative mobile training tool, The Safe Delivery App (the App). Through simple, animated clinical instruction films and action cards, the App guides skilled birth attendants on how to manage both normal and complicated deliveries.
-
Read More
Evidence shows that health workers using the App significantly improve skills, knowledge, and confidence in identifying and managing obstetric complications. The App facilitates improved and more cost-effective skill building of skilled birth attendants and creates instant access to clinical guidelines in a user-friendly format. The fact that the guidelines are accessed on a smart device has further proven to be appealing to the end user group – the frontline midwives. The App can be used as a job-aid, a training and/or refresher training tool and to support mentoring and onsite training. It can thus be implemented across the continuum from pre-service training of midwives, through in-service job aids and training tools.