The Human Incubator

New mothers who live in poverty are faced with fewer resources to help them with their physical and mental health as well as the health of their babies. In New York City, the Nurse-Family partnership matches nurses with economically poor first-time mothers. Different studies have shown that women in the program have healthier pregnancies and children.

In 2010, 5.9 million children were reported as abused or neglected in the United States. The Nurse-Family Partnership, or NFP, arranges for registered nurses to make regular home visits to first-time low-income or vulnerable mothers, starting early in their pregnancies and continuing until their child is 2.

Research has shown the importance of infant-primary caregiver attachment for the future of the child's cognitive ability, emotional health, and parent relationship. Infant Mental Health Specialists and other practitioners have emphasized programs and techniques to improve this relationship, for example infant massage classes, and specifically tailored interventions.

To address gaps in healthcare access, the local government partnered with organizations like Plan International, German Cooperation and the World Bank’s Saving One Million Lives Project to build, refurbish and equip primary healthcare centers across the state to provide better care. As of May 2023, 138 centers have been built or upgraded, offering maternity care services, child healthcare, vaccinations and family planning among other services.

To address maternal mortality, drapes with volume markings are being used to manage life-threatening bleeding after birth. The drapes collect the blood and are marked with measurements so healthcare workers can monitor blood loss and interfere and provide care before it’s too late. The drapes were tested in 78 hospitals throughout the country between August 2021 and the end of 2022 and allowed healthcare workers to interfere with excessive bleeding in time for 90% of patients.

The Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) initiative in Cross River state is helping to address a gap in services that women had been facing during childbirth and reduce the state's and Nigeria's overall maternal mortality rates. The "total market approach" that this initiative used relied on training for birth attendants and better equipping health facilities. Since its launch, maternal health workers have reported a decrease in deaths and an increase in women willing to deliver at public hospitals in the region.

To reduce maternal mortality in the Masai region of Tanzania, Catholic nuns with Sisters of Notre Dame are building hospitals and educating local women about the importance of giving birth in a medical setting. Although this goes against the community's use of a "traditional birth attendant," delivering in a hospital allows for emergency situations to be better addressed and is receiving positive feedback from women in the region.

In Nigeria where maternal deaths are not uncommon, a hospital in Zaria has implemented the Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) System to analyze and better understand the causes associated with this problem. Already, the country is seeing results as less new mothers are dying due to medical facilities being able to assess what went wrong in a more efficient and proactive manner.

Instead of letting a rural Kansas hospital perish, one CEO found a way to recruit young physicians, and get grants for the hospital. His methods helped the hospital avoid the common fate many rural hospitals face, which are often forced to shut down. It “now serves about 20,000 patients annually, up from roughly 10,000 patients in 2012, and generated $23.4 million in revenue last year.”

Missing a doctor's appointment has a significant cost. Hospitals lose money and doctors lose time that they could be using to attend to other patients. Dr. Alex King believes that through testing and then implementing certain behavioral nudges, hospitals will stop losing as much money and patients will benefit from a better experience.