Expectant mothers and their newborns will now be able to access emergency transport services.
This is after the Ministry of Health on Wednesday rolled out m-mama initiative.
The plan has been rolled out in partnership with USAID, Vodafone Foundation, Safaricom and M-PESA Foundation.
The m-mama is an emergency referral that transports pregnant women and newborns to appropriate healthcare centres.
“It is estimated that 6,000 women and 35,000 newborns in Kenya die annually from various complications,” health CS Susan Wafula said during the launch in Nairobi.
Also present were the Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, US envoy Meg Whitman and USAID boss Samantha Power.
The m-mama system creates a network of taxi drivers to act as ‘taxi ambulances’, where ambulances are not available.
Through the initiative, a clinically trained dispatcher manages the referrals and confirms facility availability to ensure women and newborns in emergency situations can be promptly managed.
“M-mama will certainly catalyse health sector collaborations and partnerships for safe motherhood thereby accelerating achievement of many of maternal and perinatal targets,” the CS said.
The initiative also recruits, trains and pays local taxi drivers to provide additional emergency transport options when ambulances are unavailable hence ensuring higher availability of transport for patients.
If a mother requires to be taken to hospital, the nearest volunteer emergency driver is identified on the m-mama app and receives a request to take the woman to an identified health facility for stabilisation or treatment.
“The dispatcher calls ahead to ensure the facility is able to treat the woman, diverting to a preordained alternative if needed,” Vodafone says.
“On safe arrival at the final treatment facility, the driver is paid instantly for the journey via M-Pesa (Vodacom's mobile money transfer system) or other approved mechanism.”
The service will be easily accessible through a free landline and mobile phone number.
According to USAID, m-mama has been shown to contribute to a 38 per cent decrease in the number of maternal deaths in the pilot countries in Africa.
“Since it was created by in 2013, m-mama has transported over 28,000 women and newborns and is conservatively estimated to have saved 900 lives,” a statement from USAID said.
The partners will work with the government to contribute Sh1.9 billion to set up the programme with USAID pledging to contribute Sh701 million while Vodafone Foundation and MPESA foundation pledging an additional Sh1.2 billion.
The US government has acknowledged that despite Kenya making progress in improving maternal and child health, efforts need to be accelerated to reach the Sustainable Development Goal target of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
Currently, more 90 per cent of women are estimated to be delivering in healthcare facilities.
The deaths during birth have been attributed to lack of timely referrals and transport for pregnant women and their newborns thus resulting in delays reaching healthcare facilities.
