Obstetric health innovations specifically target medical technologies, devices, clinical nutrition and diagnostics that improve maternal and newborn health outcomes during the course of childbirth. Maternal mortality is a major public health problem, especially in developing nations. Adolescent girls ages 15-19 are as much as five times as likely to die in childbirth. Most maternal deaths occur during or shortly after the delivery.
Postpartum hemorrhage is a leading cause of death for women around the world and many of Maternova's innovations, such as Non-Pneumatic Anti Shock Garment and BT Catheter, address the measurement, detection and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. Additional devices target eclampsia and sepsis. For eclampsia, Maternova is distributing the CRADLE vital signs alert - the world's first blood pressure cuff, specifically calibrated for pregnancy and designed for use in low-resource settings. It is important for community health workers, midwives and nurses to be educated on the danger signs and dangers of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and the specific clinical criteria for suspecting preeclampsia and eclampsia, major killers of women globally.
Maternova researches a pipeline of hundreds of innovations and chooses those that are the most promising, rugged proven and low-cost.