PROSAMI- using telemedicine to address maternal and infant mortality rates in the DRC
Maya Lezzam
PROSAMI, USA
: J Womens Health, Issues Care
Abstract
PROSAMI is a non-profit organization committed to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the DRC. Agnes Kanyanya, founder of PROSAMI, grew up in the Congo and made it her mission to address the high maternal and infant mortality rates. She eventually made her way over to the United States where she became a nurse and created PROSAMI with the help of David Strider. The organization’s objective is to strengthen midwifery education through a training program for rural health care professionals. The program started off with only a few nurse midwife candidates being trained, but the number of candidates being trained is only growing. In the last nine years, with the help of Charles Lewis and UVa Telemedicine, the organization has set up a Telemedicine connection in the DRC which aids in PROSAMI’s ability to train nurses through both video and audio connection. PROSAMI is in the process of updating equipment and renting out a pilot health center so that these nurse midwife candidates can see more patients. Through a research grant from UVA’s Center for Global Health, I will be conducting an archival data analysis of various patient reports to see which aspects of the PROSAMI training appear to be effective when put into practice. The information collected throughout the duration of the research will be helpful in quality control as the NGO continues building upon its training method.
Biography
Maya Lezzam is in her undergraduate career at the age of 20 years from the University of Virginia. She is a student delegate for PROSAMI, and is studying Global Public Health and Biostatistics on the Pre-med track.
E-mail: mdl4ac@virginia.edu
