Keep Talking, Keep Listening, Keep Innovating

Giving birth is normal, natural, and, if you live in a low- and-middle- income country, potentially life-threatening. Day by day, woman by woman, Kati Collective works to improve this outcome.

In 2015, the global maternal mortality ratio stood at 216 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. By 2030, Goal #3 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals includes reducing this mortality rate by two-thirds.

The Maternity Foundation is one of the leading organizations working to reduce maternal and newborn mortality in LMICs by empowering skilled birth attendants (SBAs) to provide a safer birth for mothers and newborns everywhere. Their main digital focus has been the creation and dissemination of the Safe Delivery App, a smartphone app that provides SBAs with instant access to up-to-date clinical guidelines on emergency obstetric and neonatal care via easy-to-understand animated instruction videos, action cards, and drug lists.

Kati Collective spent six months working with the Maternity Foundation to facilitate their transition into becoming a scaled and sustainable capacity-building program to help their innovative approach to SBA training to exponentially more frontline health care workers in LMICs. This included partnering with MF staff and leadership to facilitate the identification of their value proposition, key audiences and costing model in a way that helped them feel connected and committed to the results. The resulting sustainability plan will help the Maternity Foundation grow and create a more robust program to support more women in more countries.

On May 22 at 3 pm, we will continue the conversation about this important work at Global Washington for a panel on “Mother, Baby, Provider: Completing the Triangle.” CEO Kirsten Gagnaire will moderate a panel of experts including Heidi Breeze-Harris, Executive Director, PRONTO International; Kathleen Davis, MD, Board of Directors, Worldwide Fistula Fund; and Susan Thompson, Director of Timor-Leste Programs, Health Alliance International.

We will be talking about creating safer birth environments and how improving the skills, training, and resources available to SBAs—who are often poorly paid and unappreciated—lowers maternal mortality rates in developing countries. If we are meet UN Sustainability Goal #3 by 2030, we need to keep talking, keep listening to women in LMICs, and create innovative methods, like the Safe Delivery App, to leverage digital technology for human benefit.

Register here if you would like to join us.