Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Vodacom Tanzania, Local NGO Use Mobile Phone Banking To Help Women With Obstetric Fistula
The Guardian examines a text messaging program in Tanzania initiated by Vodacom Tanzania and local NGO Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) that utilizes Africa's mobile phone banking system, M-Pesa, to provide women suffering from obstetric fistula, caused by difficult childbirth, with the funds necessary to travel to health facilities for treatment. "CCRBT and Vodacom have now appointed a team of 60 'ambassadors' to travel around the country diagnosing women with the condition. Within an hour of an ambassador finding a patient a date is set for surgery and money for transport is texted to the ambassador, who takes the patient to the bus stop," according to the Guardian.
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