The vehicle that got a village smiling

Women who faced difficulty getting to the nearest hospital when they were in labor, organized to raise money to buy a car that could be used as an emergency vehicle. Although having the car has helped significantly with accessing the hospital, it's not a fail-proof system and can be costly for the community to maintain. The state government was impressed with the scheme, however, and has launched an initiative that helps provide financial incentives to drivers for the program.

Mobility for Africa provides electric tricycles, called Hambas, to take pregnant women to and from health appointments. Mobility is critical to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and the three-wheel tricycles are easy to drive on rural roads. They run on a lithium battery that can be charged in about six hours using renewable energy and a single charge gets about three trips. The transportation allows women who live far from clinics and cannot afford transportation be able to access medical care. About 50 Hambas currently take women to and from doctor appointments during pregnancy until after delivery.

Organizations like Elephant Circle and community-led efforts are working to ensure birth centers have the money and resources to keep their doors open. These organizations help birth centers transition into fully nonprofit organizations that can accept donations from investors and fundraising to continue providing services to those in need of care.

The Substance Use Network (SUN) Project brings together partners in medicine, social services, criminal justice, and recovery services, to provide care for mothers with substance use disorder and their babies. The project is guided by a patient-centered approach that uses pregnancy as an opportunity to encourage someone into treatment and since its launch, more than 40 patients have been treated

States typically do no employ an exact protocol for treating opioid-dependent pregnant women, but several states including Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky are working on addressing this gap in health care. Although each approach is fairly limited at this time, efforts to increase education amongst health care providers in order to reduce stigma and offering medication-assisted treatment, are practices that are still showing some promise.

Enrolling community members as Volunteer Community Mobilizers (VCMs) dramatically increases the effectiveness of public health campaigns. In Nigeria, the Jigawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency has made progress with regard to immunization rates through its health ambassador program. The VCMs act as links between the localities and the public health services, ensuring that each that child receives vaccinations on schedule. The state has also used VCMs to increase the frequency of home visits and outreach efforts.

Los Angeles has faced deepening issues of severe traffic and extreme smog pollution in the past several decades, but for years intentions and promises to broadly improve transportation have fallen flat. At long last, the most congested city in the world - once home to the most extensive urban rail network on the planet - is reviving rail lines and trains as a solution to both issues. Robust public transport has proven to have multi-layered economic, cultural, environmental, and social benefits to communities.

Barcelona is combating its rampant CO2 emissions from cars, by creating super-blocks. Super-blocks are an area within the city dedicated to pedestrians where cars can only travel at a very low speed. This model has decreased CO2 emissions and reduced noise levels while increasing economic activity and revitalizing the urban space. This model could be applied in the U.S. to make cities more pedestrian friendly.

Child mortality is a global problem that can be reduced by increasing breastfeeding rates; however, many mothers are either under too much cultural pressure, need to work, or cannot lactate enough milk. Brazil has devised an education program to help mothers breastfeed and has also created milk banks, through which mothers can donate excess milk to mothers who cannot produce. Additionally, Brazil offers paid maternity leave for mothers who have time to breastfeed and provide better health for their bodies as well as their new babies.

mDoc's Garden in a Box initiative distributes biodegradable seed kits to pregnant women identified through nutritional screening as having critical dietary gaps. The women are enrolled through a structured coaching and referral system in primary healthcare facilities and community outreach points, and receive ongoing support via a digital health platform. More than 300 women have been referred to the initiative and 96% collected a seed box.