Dtree.jpg
FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Medical equipment data
Health topic Maternal mortality
Health classification Preventative
FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Project data
Location Massachusetts, United States
Made No
Replicated No
OKH Manifest Download

Problem being addressed[edit | edit source]

There is a severe shortage of trained health care workers in developing nations and this has tremendous implications for maternal health. Pregnant women are encouraged to travel to health care facilities to have safe deliveries; however, their health is often compromised in the hands of inadequately trained birth attendants.

Detailed description of the solution[edit | edit source]

D-Tree has developed a mobile health algorithm to be used by healthcare workers that will aid them in effectively assessing labor and delivery, accurately detecting complications, and arranging and paying for transportation to a health facility. Electronic protocols guide healthcare workers through a series of questions that ultimately lead to a diagnosis and treatment. These protocols allow healthcare workers to conduct proper antenatal care checkups, encourage facility delivery, and provide specialized counseling regarding healthy behaviors and nutrition and family planning as well. Thus, this novel technology combines mobile decision support, data storage, on-line banking, and communications on a single device at the point of care. The D-tree algorithm utilizes the phone as a mini-computer and therefore does not require phone or broadband connectivity.

Designed by[edit | edit source]

  • Designed by: D-tree International
  • Location: Weston, MA, United States of America and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

When and where it was tested/implemented[edit | edit source]

This technology is being tested in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Funding Source[edit | edit source]

This technology has received grants from organizations such as Innovation Funding Group.

References[edit | edit source]

Other internally generated reports[edit | edit source]

Reproductive Health. (n.d.). D-Tree International. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Link available here.

Externally generated reports[edit | edit source]

D-tree: clinical algorithms for labor on a phone. (2013, January 11). Maternova: Tools & ideas that save mothers & newborns. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Link available here.

mHealth for Safer Deliveries. (2012, August 6). Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Link available here.

Justice, Joan. (2013, April 16). Mobile Health Around the Globe: mHealth and Social Networking in Rural Tanzania. HealthWorks Collective. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Link available here.

Roeder, Amy. (2012, August 8). Mobile phones help community health care workers diagnose, treat patients. Harvard School of Public Health. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Link available here.

Saving Lives of Mothers and Infants in Zanzibar. (n.d.). Globalgiving. Retrieved February 4, 2013. Link available here.

FA info icon.svg Angle down icon.svg Page data
Part of Global Health Medical Device Compendium
SDG SDG03 Good health and well-being, SDG09 Industry innovation and infrastructure
Authors Eva Shiu
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 1 pages link here
Impact 253 page views
Created March 16, 2013 by Eva Shiu
Modified November 22, 2022 by Irene Delgado
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