Miss Kesandu Nwokolo, a young Nigerian, has developed a mobile phone application to help reduce infant and maternal mortality in Africa.

In a statement obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos, the innovative healthcare app would revolutionise the health sector in Nigeria and Africa.

It said that the innovative healthcare application developed by Nwokolo and her team is called ‘CradleCount.’

It noted that about six out of 10 women have their babies at home, where the delivery was not supervised by a skilled birth attendant.

The statement said that errors in estimating the expected date of delivery could lead to the baby being delivered supposedly unexpected.

“This is the problem faced by pregnant women in Nigeria and Africa, if this is not addressed, there will be increased pregnancy related complications resulting in more maternal and infant mortality.

“This is where technology and innovation come in.

“Seeing these shocking statistics and challenges faced by pregnant women led to the development of the mobile phone application, CradleCount.

“CradleCount helps pregnant women and also health practitioners to calculate accurately the expected date of delivery using the last menstrual period.

“The app informs pregnant women how many days to the delivery of the baby and has alerts that remind pregnant mothers to register and follow up with their antenatal care.

“It also sends regular pregnancy and health tips to expectant mothers and the app can also work without an internet connection.”

According to the statement, the app is well designed with good aesthetic values and background colours that mothers can change the background of the app depending on the sex of the baby they are expecting.

The statement said that it was no longer news that Africa was faced with great challenges.

“What is interesting is that many young Africans with technology and innovation are beginning to provide the needed solution to the problems of the continent.”

According to the statement, the health sector in Africa is such that needs a lot of innovative ideas to reduce poor health related deaths like maternal and infant mortality.

It quoted UNICEF as saying that, every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five year olds and 145 women of childbearing age.

“UNICEF noted that it makes the country the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world.

“Several research and statistics from organisations like WHO, UNICEF, National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) have shown that everyday about 90 women in Nigeria die of pregnancy related conditions.

“A woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is one in every 13. Nigeria has the 10th highest maternal mortality in the world.

“Although many of these deaths are preventable, the coverage and quality of health care services in Nigeria continue to fail women and children.

“Presently, less than 20 per cent of health facilities offer emergency obstetric care and only 35 per cent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants.”

It said that the reasons were hinged substantially on the fact that skilled birth assistants were not usually present during delivery.

According to the statement, even when eventually they are present, it happens late, due to delays at home or in the community.

It said that CradleCount was free to download and easy to use, as a pregnant woman or health practitioner for pregnant women could download it through Google Play store, by searching for CradleCount.

The statement said that the app could also be downloaded through this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nwokolo.kesandunwokolo.... (NAN)

•Photo shows pregnant woman.

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