Arrive to Survive and Thrive: Strengthening Referral Linkages Between Health Facilities for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Care in Ghana and Uganda

Session Date: April 22, 2021

Session Description: Kampala Slum Maternal and Newborn health (MaNe) Project in Uganda and Acute Care and Emergency Referral Systems (ACERS) Consortium Project in Ghana, both implementation research projects funded by USAID, are implementing and studying interventions to: A) establish emergency call and ambulance dispatch centres to facilitate maternal and newborn child health (MNCH) referrals; and B) develop and test smartphone applications for initiating referral, tracking and deployment of ambulances, and feedback to referring facility; C) increase community demand for quality emergency obstetrics and newborn care. The projects have demonstrated improved coordination and accountability in referral of MNH emergencies, while mobile phone application for tracking and deploying ambulance system is feasible and acceptable to the health authorities and health providers.