In India, 50% of pregnant women do not receive quality antenatal care (i.e., timely screening and treatment) for HIV related co-infections, sexually transmitted infections and anemia. With health centers located far away and conventional testing taking months, treatments fail to reach women in time. Untreated infections cause preterm labor, sepsis, and high maternal and infant mortality.
Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, an assistant professor of Medicine at McGill University and a researcher at the MUHC-RI, has been awarded a grant through Grand Challenges Canada’s Stars in Global Health Program meant to help address this situation.
Dr. Pant Pai and her team, including co-investigator Dr. Rita Isaacs from Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, will empower frontline healthcare workers (ASHAs) to better care for pregnant women in rural areas.
Armed with smartphones and rapid tests, ASHAs will screen for HIV, co-infections and anemia, offer updated health info and link women to treatment. The result will be personalized care, screening, liked treatment and counseling to rural women closer to their homes, which will lower costs of care and positively impact maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.
Click here to read more about this project.
Click here to view a video related to this project.
November 27, 2013