New ultrasound technology utilized to screen pregnant women at Beyond Zero Medical Safari  

• Kenya has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world, with 510 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births¹ and 49 child deaths per 1,000 live births²
• Beyond Zero was launched in 2014 by Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta the First Lady of Kenya to eliminate preventable maternal and child deaths
• Philips has collaborated with the Beyond Zero initiative to conduct a maternity screening camp for community women in Narok – including vital signs monitoring, maternity screening and ECG.
• Philips unveiled and utilized Lumify - its First App-Based Portable Ultrasound System at the Beyond Zero Medical Safari

¹https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.MMRT?locations=KE

²https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.MORT

Maternal screening allows for early detection of complications
According to Philips’ Fabric of Africa trends report, women in Africa are at significant risk of premature death, with particular high mortality rates recorded in pregnancy. Women in semi-urban and rural areas across Kenya often die due to preventable complications during child birth as they have no access to ultrasound screenings to detect critical conditions. Many of these complications could be diagnosed with basic imaging technology.

Philips’ Lumify ultrasound was used to carry out the screenings in Narok enabling the mothers-to-be to see high-quality images of their unborn babies on a smartphone, thanks to the mobile app and portable ultrasound.  For a majority of the expectant mothers in this community, this screening camp was their first ever opportunity to have a scan. Pre-natal screenings ensure that any complications are detected in advance of labour.

“The significance of women to Africa’s sustainable development is undeniable: when they have access to food, education and healthcare, families, communities and economies thrive,” said Jasper Westerink, CEO, Philips Africa. “Thanks to initiatives like the Beyond Zero campaign, Kenya has made significant strides to address challenges related to maternal and infant mortality, despite, the grim statistics; Kenya currently has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world, with 510 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and 49 child deaths per 1,000 live births, indicating the need for interventions to ensure that no Kenyan woman – or her child – dies needlessly. As both Philips and Beyond Zero are committed to eliminating preventable maternal mortality, it made our collaboration on this Medical Safari a perfect fit.”

The Philips Lumify, is an App-Based ultrasound system providing an entirely new way of delivering ultrasound technology to healthcare providers and their patients. This has life-changing implications for healthcare – particularly maternal care – in Africa because it means that patients can be treated at the point-of-care, even in the most remote locations, with easy-to-use technology that allows Healthcare Providers to make faster diagnoses and consequently treat their patients more quickly and with a greater chance of successfully avoiding fatal complications.

Lumify’s unique combination of mobility, ease of use and image quality, will enable clinicians to perform ultrasound examinations across a variety of clinical settings. Small outpatient clinics or community centers can carry out comprehensive obstetric and abdominal scans themselves rather than referring patients to regional ultrasound centers. This enables fast diagnosis and treatment. Lumify can also be used in community care programs in remote rural areas for screening, triage and fetal well-being scans, all of which helps to address the critical issue of maternal and infant care in Kenya.

Diagnostic imaging has become ever-more crucial in healthcare, according to the World Health Organisation, and ultrasound has become one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine – so having mobile, reliable solutions that help health professionals and midwives diagnose and treat their patients for a variety of conditions at the point-of-care is invaluable.

For further information, please contact:

Radhika Choksey                                                           

Philips Group Communications - Africa                               

Tel.: +31 6 25 25 9000                                                      

E-mail: radhika.choksey@philips.com