Proximie, a healthtech company, has teamed up with Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, on a safe surgery project in Kenya. The project will layer the company’s software to allow physicians from across the world to virtually join and mentor colleagues in real time.
Using its technology, Proximie has offered its technology to Jhpiego to improve obstetric surgical care for women by expanding and enhancing the learning and mentorship in Jhpiego’s Obstetric Safe Surgery project. The project is currently underway in 5 hospitals in Makueni County. The goal of the 22 month project is to support the government of Kenya’s commitment to reduce maternal and newborn deaths and obstetric-related injuries by improving the quality of caesarean sections.
Supporting the design and evaluation of the enhanced OSS project is Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Dr. Doris Mbithi, Medical Superintendent of the Mother and Child Hospital in Makueni County and a partner on the OSS project said, “Sometimes things happen in the (operating) theatre and not all team members remember the process,” she said. “With the recordings, we can identify gaps and rectify. I am also happy that at night, I have the possibility to support remotely, either at my hospital or to help keep a potential referral at the sub county hospital by consulting remotely.”
On her part, Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram, CEO of Proximie said, “Our work with the local surgical teams on the ground in Kenya, and with Jhpiego, and Ariadne Labs, is going to help democratize access to important caesarean section surgical techniques and knowledge that would otherwise be siloed due to geography or time. Proximie is going to be harnessed pre, intra and postoperatively in order to ensure women and their babies have access to high-quality care, at a critical time.”