In September SAHFA president Laetitia van Haren went to Kenya to present the JamboMama! app. She had done so online but not in person yet. It was a very successful mission for whom she met and how the app was received. In just a few days she could present it to a variety of audiences, from ordinary women to dispensary staff to health promotors, to doctors and midwives and health sector policy makers, including the County’s Minister of Health.
The app was downloaded by a great number of people. Laetitia was hosted by the Medical Officer in chief and owner of a rural dispensary. They did all their presentations together, except for the high level one, where everyone understood English. The doctor was so passionately interested and convinced he immediately captured the concept and the functions of the app so they presented JamboMama! together as smoothly and effortlessly as if they had done this for years.
Laetitia’s other host was a friend from the Global Health Movement around WHO in Geneva who has returned to Kitale for his retirement. He brought her in contact with the most dynamic team of rural health promotion officers she had ever met. They all wanted the app immediately, so they shared the APK link. They can now practice with it, but it needs a proper roll-out plan so that its impact on maternal wellbeing and health can be measured. There should be fewer maternal and infant deaths and disabilities, earlier and more frequent antenatal and postnatal clinic attendance and less babies born on the way to the facility, as moms know when it is time to go to the clinic, instead of arriving when labour is too far advanced.
SAHFA now has to give them some time to get going, while we work behind the scenes at the app. Sustainability requires localisation of professional work, including the computing. This slows down successful dissemination in the short run, not easy to accept for anyone concerned but it serves a long term purpose. Food for thought!
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