UNDP

Binge Consumption & Public Health

For crisis response measures to be effective, they need to be mirrored in public behaviour. The Accelerator Lab in Sudan is looking to understand – and nudge – consumer behaviour and the systematic implications of binge consumption on public health, economy and society. While particularly salient in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, with hand sanitiser flying off the shelves and price increases of 280% on masks, this work is part of a bigger effort to identify and test multiple entry points for supporting responsive governance in Sudan. In addition to social media analysis, opinion polls, and more, the Sudan Accelerator Lab is preparing to dispatch an SMS survey to a diverse sample of 635,000 people, including nomads, migrants, homemakers, rural populations, the elderly as well as youth. The leads emerging from the responses (estimated at 2%, or 12,700) will inform the Lab’s behavioural interventions, including targeted messaging to discourage panic-buying.

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February 17, 2022

Bike Ambulances to improve Emergency Obstetric Care in Rural Areas

Maternal mortality and morbidity rates remain high in Cote d’Ivoire. It is estimated that more than six women out of a thousand are dying while delivering birth, while 0.7% of the women of childbearing age have fistula in the country (MICS, 2016). While the strengthening of the health system is taking place, women in the country, especially in the rural area, stay vulnerable to the high risk of maternal death and morbidity. From behavioral perspectives, the barriers that leads to the three delays–(1) deciding to seek care; (2) identifying and reaching a medical facility; (3) receiving adequate and appropriate treatment may include the following (Cichowitz et al., 2018): Factors related to the first delay: social norms (community prefers to deliver at home), limited transportation and health care services at night, and negative experience in hospitals in the past (lack of trust). Factors related to the second delay of reaching a medical facility: a lack of available transportation, long travel times, and perception of high medical costs (walking 36.5%, car 34.6%, bus 13.5%, and motorcycle 13.5% in case of a study in Tanzania). In this context, this rapid prototyping initiative seeks to develop a new low-cost, safe transportation for women to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity in rural areas, by tackling the barriers that often lead to delay of emergency obstetric care (EmOC). It also aims to collect and utilize the GPS data/information of the bike ambulances to enable regional hospitals and the government to make better decisions in providing care, utilize hospital ambulances efficiently, and enhance communication between the care-seeker and care-provider.
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