Neonatal Health

Neonatal Health

Saving lives with OmwanaThrive

Every 16 minutes a Ugandan baby dies before they reach 28 days of life.[1] This shocking fact is primarily due to the severe lack of healthcare knowledge that exists in rural populations.  With the onset of COVID19, more and more young girls are getting pregnant, are completely unprepared for motherhood and are adding to the number of stillborns, preterm births and neonatal deaths

OmwanaThrive application program was developed by our working partner, Santa Clara University’s Frugal Innovation Labs, specifically to address the high rate of neonatal deaths. The program operates on an Android tablet, features key messages about baby care and does not require internet access.

Omwana Thrive is a fully integrated healthcare/nutrition program that is established at 8 local clinics found in Wakiso, Soroti, Buikwe and Kanungu. Our objective is to prevent malnutrition in infants before it affects their growth and development. Thanks to the cooperation with Uganda’s Ministry of Health, Village Health Workers, Rose Uganda Fellows and Local Healthcare Clinics, rural poor mothers are learning about the importance of neonatal healthcare and nutrition with our easy-to-understand healthcare programs.

OmwanaThrive app explains how to care for the newborn in easy to understand format.

Since our introduction to OmwanaThrive, thousands of mothers have learned how to feed and care for their infants, while lives are being saved.

[1] United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, UNPD and the World Bank)