A Vermont-Made App That Could Save Kids' Lives

The Beyond Zero Clinic addresses child mortality rates by training and equipping community health promoters (CHPs) with smartphones connected to the Community Health Information System to curb preventable deaths by ensuring children get vaccinated and monitoring disease spread in real-time to ensure children receive timely medical care. During Kenya's 2023 cholera outbreak, CHPs using the digital platform reached 99.2% of the population for vaccination, containing what could have been a widespread epidemic.

In 2020, Nigeria's Rural Electrification Agency installed a 50-kilowatt solar-hybrid system at Gombe State Specialist Hospital, providing uninterrupted electricity to critical units, including the ICU and emergency departments. Since its installation, maternal mortality dropped from 15-20 deaths monthly to 1-2 per month, and neonatal deaths also decreased from 50 to 20-25 monthly. The system has also helped healthcare workers perform life-saving surgeries without interruption, as these surgeries were often delayed or impossible due to power outages.

Digital public infrastructure is helping African countries build more sustainable health systems by replacing fragmented, donor-funded projects with interoperable digital services. In Zambia, for example, the SmartCare Pro electronic health record system uses thumbprints to identify patients and track chronic diseases like TB and HIV, ensuring continuity of care, where it was historically missing.

Ekiti State, Nigeria, implemented a coordinated three-pronged approach that reduced neonatal, infant, and under-five mortality rates by more than 50% over five years, saving approximately 45,000 children's lives. The response combined strengthening the medical supply chain, increasing demand for care by engaging with community leaders and holding weekly meetings with health system stakeholders.

The Grassroots Smile Initiative provides complimentary cleft lip surgeries and associated care, including nutritional support, speech therapy and other treatments. Since 2005, the group has performed over 3,000 free surgeries, averaging about 150 to 200 patients each year.

To aid in postpartum hemorrhage care, the Kisumu Medical and Education Trust distributes uterine balloon tamponade kits that can be used to stop excessive bleeding and prevent death after other measures have failed. The kits have been provided to more than 1,300 healthcare facilities in 23 countries and over 6,000 healthcare workers have been trained to use them.

The Health and Social Development Foundation (HESED) aims to increase access to healthcare, specifically among pregnant women and children. HESED works to bring doctors closer to communities that struggle to get care and has also created designated spaces for important care that was previously inaccessible, like OBGYN checkups. Over the last three years, more than 400 people have received checkups from the center, regardless of their insurance status.

Non-pneumatic Anti-shock Garments (NASG) are emergency garments used during cases of post-partum hemorrhage that save women’s lives by compressing blood vessels to reduce excessive blood loss. Currently, there are 498 NASGs distributed across several counties and the use of the garment has resulted in a 38% reduction in the maternal mortality rate.

The Children Living With Cancer Foundation organizes dance parties for children with cancer, to provide them with a sense of joy, encouragement, and community during times of need. The nonprofit also organizes community events and donations and works with local pharmacies to get patients the medicines they need at subsidized rates. So far, the Foundation has supported 300 childhood cancer patients and their families.

Shoreline Medical is a non-profit primary care network on the Saanich Peninsula that has expanded residents’ access to primary care doctors. The group has successfully attracted family care doctors despite a severe shortage through combining community and hospital-based care. Doctors spend five weeks working in family medicine and one week assisting with low-severity cases in the emergency room. The physician staffing growth has allowed Shoreline to increase their patient case load to over 17,000 residents, 11,000 of whom previously lacked a primary care doctor.