An emergency transportation system for mothers and newborns in Tanzania, Lesotho, and Kenya which connects women to care through a national network of community drivers and ambulances.
In 2013, Touch developed the m-mama emergency transportation system, in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, to ensure that pregnant women have access to safe labor and delivery care. m-mama is a technology solution that connects women with community drivers to transport them to the closest hospital that can meet their unique needs.
The m-mama platform evaluates driver and ambulance availability, as well as hospital proximity and capacity, and then dispatches the closest vehicle option to transport the woman safely to care. Originally piloted regionally in the Lake Zone of Tanzania, m-mama was found to contribute to a 27% decrease in maternal mortality
Every day around the world, 800 women die of preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. That’s one needless death every two minutes. 95% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the highest rates of maternal and newborn mortality in the world. A key cause of these unnecessary deaths is a delay in accessing care, with many patients in rural areas travelling long distances to reach health facilities.
Fueled by the resounding success of the pilot program in the Lake Zone, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hussein declared in 2022 that m-mama would become the national emergency transportation system for pregnant women. Touch began a rapid nationwide scale-up that would bring m-mama to all 184 districts of the country within 18 months.
m-mama provides a toll-free number that can be called by anyone, anywhere in Tanzania and Lesotho. A national network of government-owned and -operated dispatch centers receive calls, triage the medical condition of the caller, and then send the nearest available driver to transport the women urgently to the nearest hospital that can meet her needs.
Partner governments are the owners and operators of m-mama. Philanthropy partners fund the roll-out and adoption of the m-mama platform, but ongoing operating costs are adopted in phases into the national budget. Governments assume responsibility for: driver remuneration (which ensures that transport cost is not a deterrent to seeking care); operating dispatch centers; and the ongoing running costs of the ICT platform.
Ultimately, m-mama delivers a hugely cost-effective solution for governments – for whom the cost of a national ambulance system would be prohibitive.
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Every day around the world, 800 women die of preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. That’s one needless death every two minutes. 95% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the highest rates of maternal and newborn mortality in the world. A key cause of these unnecessary deaths is a delay in accessing care, with many patients in rural areas travelling long distances to reach health facilities.
Fueled by the resounding success of the pilot program in the Lake Zone, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hussein declared in 2022 that m-mama would become the national emergency transportation system for pregnant women. Touch began a rapid nationwide scale-up that would bring m-mama to all 184 districts of the country within 18 months.m-mama provides a toll-free number that can be called by anyone, anywhere in Tanzania and Lesotho. A national network ofgovernment-owned and -operated dispatch centersreceive calls, triage the medical condition of the caller, and then send the nearest available driver to transport the women urgently to thenearest hospitalthat can meet her needs.
Partner governments are the owners and operators of m-mama. Philanthropy partners fund the roll-out and adoption of the m-mama platform, but ongoing operating costs are adopted in phases into the national budget. Governments assume responsibility for: driver remuneration (which ensures that transport cost is not a deterrent to seeking care); operating dispatch centers; and the ongoing running costs of the ICT platform. Ultimately, m-mama delivers a hugely cost-effective solution for governments – for whom the cost of a national ambulance system would be prohibitive.
Fueled by the resounding success of the pilot program in the Lake Zone, Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hussein declared in 2022 that m-mama would become the national emergency transportation system for pregnant women. Touch began a rapid nationwide scale-up that would bring m-mama to all 184 districts of the country within 18 months.m-mama provides a toll-free number that can be called by anyone, anywhere in Tanzania and Lesotho. A national network ofgovernment-owned and -operated dispatch centersreceive calls, triage the medical condition of the caller, and then send the nearest available driver to transport the women urgently to thenearest hospitalthat can meet her needs.
Partner governments are the owners and operators of m-mama. Philanthropy partners fund the roll-out and adoption of the m-mama platform, but ongoing operating costs are adopted in phases into the national budget. Governments assume responsibility for: driver remuneration (which ensures that transport cost is not a deterrent to seeking care); operating dispatch centers; and the ongoing running costs of the ICT platform. Ultimately, m-mama delivers a hugely cost-effective solution for governments – for whom the cost of a national ambulance system would be prohibitive.
During her visit to East Africa in April 2023, USAID Administrator Samantha Power praised the m-mama program. Having scaled to Tanzania and Lesotho, m-mama is currently rolling out across Kenya. The next country to follow Kenya will be Malawi, set to begin in 2025.
USAID Administrator
"I can think of no program or project anywhere in the world… this is as exciting and cost-effective as m-mama. It’s extraordinary"