Online Program

278671
Using innovative software solutions to address challenges with maternal deaths; Sharing experiences over a 2 year period from the national program in India


Monday, November 4, 2013 : 8:30 a.m. - 8:50 a.m.

Ajey Bhardwaj, Avni Health Foundation, Gurgaon, India
Manisha Malhotra, Dr, Maternal Health Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India
Himanshu Bhushan, Dr, Maternal Health Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India
Chittaranjan Purandare, Dr, Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological societies of India, Mumbai, India
P K Shah, Dr, Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological societies of India, Mumbai, India
Sunita Paliwal, Dr, Maternal Health Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India
Dhawal Naik, Dr, Avni Health Foundation, Mumbai, India
Thelma Sequeira, Dr, Avni Health Foundation, Mumbai, India
Maternal Death Review (MDR) is an important strategy to improve the quality of obstetric care and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. MDR provides detailed information on various factors at community, facility, district, regional and national levels that influence maternal health outcomes. A key challenge is to analyse paper based data related to MDR, collected through facility and community based tools. The database of 10500 records of maternal deaths in India continues to expand on a daily basis, with data elements repeated across tools, making analysis of data difficult to manage and inform program and policy. It is critical to have a standardized solution across the country avoiding duplication of data through use of various software solutions with different reporting structures making it impossible to link and follow a cohort of pregnant women as intended by the Government led Mother and Child Tracking System. The paper describes the process of development and roll out of the National MDR software under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Maternal Health division) supported by The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, Systems and Program Management through funding from the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics over a period of 24 months. Key challenges and lessons learnt, as well as demonstration of the use of the software to track maternal deaths, understanding related causes, gaps in services delivery etc will be highlighted. The lessons learnt from India's experience support further understanding of using innovative technologies to address large scale public health issues in developing countries.

Learning Areas:

Program planning

Learning Objectives:
Identify and list the challenges faced and how to overcome them, while implementing maternal death review programs Formulate maternal death review programs using the facility based and community based tools Design tools and maternal death review software using the software source codes

Keyword(s): Maternal and Child Health, Information Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Pharmacy graduate with a post-graduate degree in Business management. I am the founder of NGO-AVNI Health foundation, which has been working closely with National & International Universities in the Caribbean region and USA, with health ministries of 27 States & ministry of health & family welfare Government of India, with FOGSI, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and 30 dental schools on several public health issues. I have designed, developed the maternal death review software.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.