Improving access to emergency obstetric care (EmOC)
Every two minutes a woman dies of childbirth related complications globally. 70% of these cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa and the majority are preventable — with evidence showing that long travel times play a part in negative maternal outcomes. That’s where emergency obstetric care utilizing AI can help. We are using AI to better map access to obstetric care, helping partners to ensure women are able to access health services.
In collaboration with OnTime Consortium in Nigeria, in 2022, we developed a tool that identifies the average travel time to the nearest, second nearest, and third nearest EmOC facilities for different regions. Facilitated on the ground by our partner, the OnTIME Consortium, decision makers in Benin City are using the dashboard to identify areas of poor geographic access to EmOC and will conduct visual inspections to determine the reasons for poor geospatial access (e.g., potholes, roads in disrepair, commuter behavior, lack of an EmOC-trained clinician at the local facility) combining this with the live experience of locals in order to make evidence-informed, tailored recommendations. The team is now working on expanding this effort beyond Nigeria.