Reducing maternal mortality: An ultrasound system for village midwives

On average a woman dies in childbirth approximately every 90 seconds, and the majority of these deaths take place in Africa and Asia [1]. While ultrasound imaging is an effective tool for identifying maternal mortality risk factors, it is nearly absent in many rural healthcare facilities in developing regions due to the high costs of both equipment and required training. To leverage existing healthcare systems commonly found in these contexts, we have focused on increasing the diagnostic capabilities of village midwives - often central medical figures in rural and low-income communities. We have developed a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use ultrasound system designed specifically to enable local midwives to identify high-risk conditions for referral to a well-equipped health care facility. Our focus has been on designing an appropriate system for our context. Specifically, we had to: simplify our user interface, support a solitary work environment, balance cost and features, and create an integrated teaching help system. This paper describes technical, socio-technical, and socio-cultural factors, drawn from our collaboration with the University of Washington Department of Radiology and our field experiences with midwives in Uganda, that have influenced our design.