ITU

ITU International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI)

I-CoDI seeks to help close the digital innovation divide by providing a safe co-design space for ITU Members and other stakeholders to develop innovative strategies that accelerate digital transformation and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. I-CoDI is now developing a network of ITU regional offices (MENA, Africa and Asia Pacific Region) and partners that use I-CoDI’s co-design toolkit and its approach to bring ITU resources, ITU expertise and stakeholders together and co-create solutions to challenges that Member States in the region have better, faster and in a cost-efficient manner. ITU’s International Centre of Digital Innovation (I-CoDI) provides a model for co-designing with a set of processes aiming to build synergies between stakeholders, increase speed, productivity, innovation and deliver outcomes with tangible impact in the region. It encompasses a set of tools and methodologies each catered to target and resolve common and frequent challenges for meaningful connectivity in the regions.

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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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