An innovative "wetsuit" to save women's lives
The goal of the Safe Motherhood Program is to prevent maternal deaths by promoting women's health and human rights.
The Safe Motherhood Program is focused on maternal health and our LifeWrap project is at the forefront of our research into ways to end maternal deaths. In order to reach our goal we: conduct rigorous, relevant and timely research, resulting in new, applicable knowledge; we ensure maternal survivorship through principles of respect, dignity and equality; we create direct and practical links from research to policy to implementation; we train clinicians of all levels in low-resource settings and raise community awareness of maternal health; and we disseminate information and innovations globally.
About You
About You
First Name
Jessica
Last Name
Morris
Facebook Profile
http://www.facebook.com/Ucsf Safe Motherhood-Program
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Safe Motherhood Program. University of California, San Francisco
Organization Website
Organization Phone
4155979343
Organization Address
50 Beale Street, Suite 1200
Organization Country
United States, CA
Country where this project is creating social impact
Zambia
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
An innovative "wetsuit" to save women's lives
What change do you want to bring to the world?
The goal of the Safe Motherhood Program is to prevent maternal deaths by promoting women's health and human rights.
The Safe Motherhood Program is focused on maternal health and our LifeWrap project is at the forefront of our research into ways to end maternal deaths. In order to reach our goal we: conduct rigorous, relevant and timely research, resulting in new, applicable knowledge; we ensure maternal survivorship through principles of respect, dignity and equality; we create direct and practical links from research to policy to implementation; we train clinicians of all levels in low-resource settings and raise community awareness of maternal health; and we disseminate information and innovations globally.
What are the primary activities of your project?
Conducting research into technologies to reduce deaths from complications of pregnancy and childbirth are our primary activities. At present out largest research project is on the LifeWrap (medical name, the Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment, or NASG) which is a neoprene device that resembles the lower half of a wetsuit. It is applied on women who are hemorrhaging and in shock. This research is currently being conducted in hospitals and clinics in Zambia and Zimbabwe. We are also involved with implementing the LifeWrap in Continuum of Care for PostPartum Hemorrhage projects in India, Nigeria, Peru and Tanzania. The use of the LifeWrap in all cases means that women's lives are being saved. The research will hopefully lead to the scale up the use of this device so that all countries with high maternal mortality have it as a life-saving tool. As part of the project we also train health care staff in the prevention and treatment of hemorrhage and work to strengthen referral systems and communication between community clinics and tertiary level hospitals.
What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?
The LifeWrap is an innovative garment only recently being discovered as particularly useful for women who are hemorrhaging. It is a very low-technology device, can be used in primary health care facilities and any health care worker can be trained in its use in under an hour. It can be washed and reused, it is low cost and very effective. Results so far show great reductions in death, emergency hysterectomy and morbidity.
High rates of maternal mortality is a human rights issue. It is also a severe social issue as well as the death of a mother devastates families and societies. In families without a mother, newborns are more likely to die and surviving children suffer from ill health, stunted growth, and are more likely to drop out of school. Motherless children also suffer psychologically and socially. Many households without mothers don’t survive, often with older children having being sent to live with relatives with intact families. Additionally, maternal mortality costs the world approximately $15 billion in lost productivity. Maternal health is proven to support a country's economic growth and cut poverty. In addition to the moral and human rights imperative of saving mothers, there are enormous implications in terms of social and economic progress.
Hundreds of thousands of women die each year during pregnancy and childbirth, and the most dreadful thing is that most are preventable. The LifeWrap is a contribution in an area that has had a dearth of innovations but the greatest need of them.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for more than 5 years
Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
We work in various countries that have high maternal mortality rates. We work in cities and more rural communities. In many of the countries with high maternal mortality rates, there is also impoverishment, malnutrition, high infant mortality and high rates of HIV/AIDS. In Zambia, although most women go to their local clinic for an ante-natal visit, less than half give birth in a health care facility. Many women do not live near a hospital and/or cannot afford costs associated with getting there or being attended to. Health care facilities may also be under supplied and have staff shortages.
It has been shown that women with complications of pregnancy and childbirth often die through a sequence of delays, this may be the delay in realizing that something is wrong, making the decision to seek care, transport to a facility or delays at the facility. The LifeWrap can overcome some of these delays, keeping women alive through transport and awaiting definitive treatment.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
The Founder and Director of the Safe Motherhood Program is Dr. Suellen Miller - a maternal health specialist with over 35 years of experience in reproductive health care.
In 2003 Dr. Suellen Miller read an article by Dr. Paul Hensleigh describing a case study of the LifeWrap and called him to discuss global opportunities for the garment. She was surprised to find that no-one had thought to use the LifeWrap at the community and primary health care levels to stabilize and transport women with obstetric hemorrhage. Drs. Miller and Henseligh joined forces to make a real impact and decrease maternal death from obstetric hemorrhage. Dr. Miller has since been the Principle Investigator of the LifeWrap in various studies as well as other Safe Motherhood Projects throughout the world.
Dr. Miller is Associate Professor, with appointments in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco and the School of Public Health, Maternal and Child Health Program, University of California, Berkeley.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured
The project has been very successful. The published papers detail how many women have been treated with the LifeWrap and the great results we have seen. One recently published paper in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth discussed how although women in the LifeWrap phase were in worse condition on study entry, that negative outcomes were significantly reduced in this phase: mean measured blood loss decreased from 444 mL to 240 mL, maternal mortality decreased from 6.3% to 3.5% (RR 0.56, 95% CI 0.35-0.89), severe morbidities from 3.7% to 0.7% (RR 0.20, 95% CI 0.08-0.50), and emergency hysterectomy from 8.9% to 4.0% (RR 0.44, 0.23-0.86). In multiple logistic regression, there was a 55% reduced odds of mortality during the Lifewrap phase (aOR 0.45, 0.27-0.77). The number needed to treat to prevent either mortality or severe morbidity was 18 (12-36).
The Lifewrap has been used to stabilize over 2500 women in various countries. Additionally, we have data on the hundreds of health care staff that we have trained over the past few years.
Other evidence is in the form of qualitative research which has described how health care providers are pleased to be using the LifeWrap, that they now have something that can 'bring women back from the brink.' Also, the success of our research is evident in the LifeWrap's inclusion in the Continuum of Care for Postpartum Hemorrhage which is led by NGO Pathfinder International as well as it's adoption in Nigeria with governmental support for its use. These are from the basis of such strong results showing the success of this life-saving device.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
1,001- 10,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Disseminating the findings from our research and forming partnerships with groups that can be involved with scaling up use of the LifeWrap is imperative.
Task 1
Publish a paper on the results so far at community clinics in Zambia and Zimbabwe
Task 2
Identify and approach potential partners who can scale up/roll out use of the LifeWrap in countries with high maternal mortality rates
Task 3
Complete data collection at our research sites
Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Continue disseminating the findings and forming partnerships. Raising more public awareness and support for both ending death in childbirth, as well as in implementation of the LifeWrap.
Task 1
Improve support base, hold a public awareness raising event.
Task 2
Disseminate findings at meetings in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Possibly India, Nigeria, Peru and Tanzania as well.
Task 3
Present on the LifeWrap at an international meeting of health professionals
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
Over the next three years we hope to finish collecting data on the LifeWrap and move it into an implementation phase which brings the LifeWrap to many countries. We would hope that governments will support its use and that with the assistance of other groups, we can get the LifeWrap placed and used in clinics and hospitals throughout the developing world.
Sustainability
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
Potential barriers might include:
1: the need for the Lifewrap to be included on the WHO's list of essential devices. We have already initiated communication with the WHO and they are awaiting the results of this large trial. We can also strengthen our ability to do this by uniting with other groups, getting support from partners who will also advocate for its inclusion. Again we have already started doing this.
2: the cost of the LifeWrap is prohibitive to many clinics. We have been working with NGO Path who are working on a cheaper version of the Lifewrap. We will continue following leads to improve the cost effectiveness of this garment.
3: lack of funds to reach a wider audience and to support the implementation of the Lifewrap throughout developing countries. Again, we are hoping that other organizations, concerned with scale up of promising technologies will work with us on this and we are trying to bring as much attention to our group and our project as possible.
Tell us about your partnerships
We work with Pathfinder International on their Continuum of Care for Postpartum Hemorrhage project which utilizes the LifeWrap for treatment of hemorrhage.
We are partners and friends with various maternal health groups such as the White Ribbon Alliance, Every Mother Counts, Maternova and the Maternal Health Task Force.
In our research sites, we are partnered with the University of Zimbabwe and University of Zambia and their University teaching hospitals.
Current annual budget of project, in US dollars
More than $1 million
Explain your selections
Our current research is funded by the Gates Foundation. Funding to support our activities usually comes from four sources: department funds, foundation grants, National Institute of Health grants and gifts from individual donors. We rely on much needed private contributions to assist with the purchase of LifeWraps, training, staff and other expenses essential to carrying out this important work.
How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?
There are many plans to strengthen our LifeWrap project over the next three years. these include, continuing and completing our research in Zambia and Zimbabwe, analyzing and presenting that data, hopefully giving yet more evidence of the efficacy of the LifeWrap. We will continue training staff in our study sites (over 36 clinics and 5 hospitals in 2 countries). We will work with partners to investigate cheaper manufacturing of the garment and to study how its optimal use is reached (both are already underway). We will continue to reach out to more supporters and increase visibility of our group as well as publish and present on the LifeWrap to the scientific/medical community.
Challenges
Which barriers to health and well-being does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.
PRIMARY
Limited access to preventative tools or resources
SECONDARY
Lack of physical access to care/lack of facilities
TERTIARY
Limited human capital (trained physicians, nurses, etc.)
Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.
Our innovation, the LifeWrap, offers a tool for preventing death where often there is not much that health workers can do. Even in hospitals, sometimes hemorrhage does not respond to the tools staff have, or there are problems with supply or staff in which the garment can stabilize women, overcoming these delays. Also, in community clinics, patients with hemorrhage must go to the hospital for treatment, the LifeWrap can keep them alive during the wait for transport to arrive, during transport to the hospital and awaiting treatment in the hospital. We also work in strengthening referral, communication and transport between clinics and hospital as well as further training health care workers in prevention, early identification and treatment of hemorrhage.
How are you growing the impact of your organization or initiative?
Please select up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.
PRIMARY
Influenced other organizations and institutions through the spread of best practices
SECONDARY
Grown geographic reach: Global
TERTIARY
Grown geographic reach: Within host country
Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.
We are already working on all of the above and hope to continue to do so in the future. We connect with and influence other groups in the scientific/medical community through publishing our results, presenting at domestic and international meetings etc. We are been reaching out to the public and growing our support base gradually over the past few years and hope to do more of this through social networking and events. We are meet with relevant stakeholders both in the countries we work, and globally ensuring that the LifeWrap project will continue to grow and strengthen.
Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)
Technology providers, NGOs/Nonprofits.
If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?
As mentioned in the partners section, our work with Pathfinder International has enabled the LifeWrap to be implemented in four countries already and this will expand further. We are also collaborating with PATH in examining how this garment can be manufactured for even better results and at a lower cost - this will really increase the likelihood that the LifeWrap will eventually be a standard tool being used to save lives in low-resource settings.
 | 87 weeks ago Jessica Morris updated this Competition Entry. |
| 87 weeks ago Jessica Morris updated this Competition Entry. |
| 87 weeks ago Jessica Morris updated this Competition Entry. |
| 87 weeks ago Jessica Morris submitted this idea. |
