Maternity Worldwide have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health (EIPH). The main objective of the agreement is to collaborate and make available to one another expertise, know-how and equipment to enable each Party to increase Laboratory capacity, and Research Outcomes and to generate Intellectual Property Rights. The main areas of collaboration will be research, training, capacity building and technical assistance.
“This is a unique opportunity to work with the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health in order to strengthen our common objectives of reducing Maternal Mortality Rates in Ethiopia” said Dr Adrian Brown, Chair of Maternity Worldwide.
CRADLE Vital Signs Alert (VSA) “Traffic Light” Blood Pressure Monitor
One of the first collaboration projects will be to investigate the feasibility of the use of a simple, portable blood pressure monitor which can be used by untrained community members with low literacy skills. The initial research carried out in Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania has been very successful. Maternity Worldwide is an implementation partner in collaboration with King’s College of project CRADLE (Community blood pressure monitoring in Rural Africa: Detection of under-Lying pre-Eclampsia). With a preliminary trial now underway, starting in March 2016 a large scale clustered, stepped wedge randomised control trial will be undertaken to assess the full impact on mortality and morbidity levels amongst mothers and babies.
