JANUARY NEWSLETTER: MEET GRACE, A CHAMPION FOR THE HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND BABIES

Grace Nakintu, a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) driver in the Rakai District of Uganda

In Uganda, 6,000 mothers and 45,000 newborns die every year due to lack of access to skilled attendants at birth. Throughout the world women are dying needlessly from common complications of pregnancy and labor that can easily be treated by those who possess the knowledge and skills, and in health facilities that are prepared for such emergencies. The vast majority of these deaths (94%) occur in low-resource settings, and most could have been prevented by addressing each of these 3 delays:

• The delay in the decision to seek skilled maternity and newborn care

• The delay in accessing skilled maternity and newborn care once the decision is made

• The delay to receive quality care once reaching a health facility

Since 2015, Brick by Brick Uganda’s Babies and Mothers Alive (BAMA) Program has been working in the Rakai and Kyotera Districts of Uganda, in 48 free government-funded health facilities to improve the quality of maternal and newborn care. We have also engaged the broader community to increase awareness of the importance of institutional delivery. Now, thanks to the generous support of Enabel-Wehubit, a program of the Belgian Development Agency, our BAMA Program will address the 2nd delay, providing life-saving transportation by linking rural women in labor to local motorcycle taxi drivers, using our innovative and simple mobile phone app. We will also link mothers in labor in need of emergency transfer to automobile taxis or ambulances. This is the Mama Rescue Project.

Grace Nakintu is a 25-year-old woman from Kibaale Village, in Kyarurangira sub-county, Rakai District. Tragically Grace lost her baby in 2012  as she struggled to reach the hospital.

‘I was pregnant and developed complications, but because of difficulty in accessing means of transport to the hospital, my baby was tired and died on our way to the hospital. The doctors operated on me immediately after I reached the hospital. The doctors didn’t know that my baby was already dead.’

Mama Rescue is an innovative, simple mobile phone application/transport platform and emergency dispatch system improving access to quality and safe obstetric services to mothers in rural communities. It provides transport for mothers in labor from home to the health center where they can deliver with a BAMA-trained, skilled midwife, and emergency transport from the health center to the hospital where women can receive urgent obstetric care in the event of a complication. Mothers who have attended all four antenatal visits are given a transport voucher. Once in labor, they simply give this number to the trained Mama Rescue driver in their village who transports her to the nearest health center. The driver is immediately paid with mobile money upon completing the journey.

‘25-years-old, I was curled into a fetal position and wept to reach help. Sometimes I would stop, bend and put my hand on my thigh to support my body, to rest a bit,” Grace says. “My family had no idea who to call as I writhed in pain. My husband begged drivers to take me to the health center that is a mile away, and no one was willing to help.’

The Mama Rescue Project aims to increase the number of births that take place in health facilities and improve timely referral for women with complications in labor and the immediate postpartum period.

‘My experience of losing my baby pushed me to start riding a boda boda so that I can support my fellow women who are pregnant to reach the hospital on time and not have complications leading to the death of their babies. Several mothers call me at any time from the neighboring villages to come and take them to the hospital to save both the life of the mother and the baby.’

In February, Mama Rescue will be launched to serve over 10,000 women annually in need of emergency transport. Grace will join over 100 boda boda drivers in helping us to save the lives of mothers and babies in Uganda.

‘I wish to thank the BAMA Program and Enabel that is helping them to implement the Mama Rescue Project for allowing me to be one of the first Mama Rescue drivers to help my fellow women reach the health centers so that they don’t go through what I went through. Thank you very much.’