MamaRescue:Emergency Transport for Ugandan Mothers

Our Mama Rescue Project continues to make steady progress toward our expected launch before the end of March 2020. After securing a 350,000 EUR grant from Enabel, the Belgian Development Agency, Executive Directors of Brick by Brick Partners (USA) and Brick by Brick Uganda, Dr. Marc Sklar and Dr. Daniel Murokora, presented our program innovation to senior Enabel staff in Brussels. To date we have accomplished the following:

• Negotiated and signed our final contract with Yo! Uganda, our local IT partner and aggregator of our mobile phone platform, which will link mothers in labor to local motorcycle and automobile taxi drivers.
• MTN is the largest mobile phone carrier in sub-Saharan Africa. This month after a more than a year long process, we met with MTN CEO Wim Vanhelleputte. We left very optimistic that we will receive significant in-kind support from MTN. We have requested zero rated access to MTN's USSD mobile phone network, which will significantly reduce our costs. In addition, we have requested a cash donation to help support this life saving initiative.
• Hired our Mama Rescue Project Coordinator
• We have mapped the transportation resources linking them to the 24 health facilities that will participate in this program.
• We have begun meeting with the local taxi driver associations with whom we will partner with Mama Rescue.
• In January 2020, we presented Mama Rescue to the Ugandan Ministry of Health at our monthly Maternal and Child Health Technical Working Group meeting. 
• Purchased branded helmets and  reflector vests for mothers and motorcycle taxi drivers.

Links:

• http://www.brickbybrick.org