CODE MAMA (Mobile Assistance for Medical Aid) is an emergency hotline for aid workers to handle post-disaster updates and organizational status check-ups among staff. Designed by Ellie Bastani, Frankie Cheung, Sajan Ravindran, and Cindy Wong at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Presented at Unicef Headquarters, Fall 2010.
What you just heard is the introduction of how we hope to deliver aid in a post-disaster scenario. Code MAMA was created as a way for aid organizations to regroup quickly after disaster strikes. Code MAMA stands for Mobile Assistance for Medical Aid. \n
In the story of Code MAMA, we originally wanted to help pregnant women. They are a vulnerable population, a motivated user group, and maternal mortality is a key indicator UNICEF used to see how troubled an area was. \n
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Our first idea was to create a mobile sms platform that allowed expecting mothers to connect with health workers and get better aid.\n
With that in mind, we met with people from ChildCount+ and Project Mwana to get a better understanding of their initiatives and what they have learned in the field.\n
ChildCount+ specializes in deploying aid workers to collect and transmit health surveys. \n
Project Mwana trains a group of local health workers to help mothers access their medical resources more efficiently. For example, checkup reminders and medical test results are sent to a trained local health worker who communicates the messages to the mother.\n
Our original idea was to build a system to connect expecting mothers to health workers. What we found was that the existing systems relied on health workers acting as intermediaries between mothers and medical resources.\n\nHowever, these systems experienced challenges on the ground such as mobile literacy and actual literacy as well as technology access. \n\nAlso, the system such as ChildCount Plus relies on PEOPLE\n\nWhat do we mean? We’re talking about people, aid workers, living in communities who get displaced during disaster.\n
So, we took a closer look at our design scenario. We realized a challenge that they faced was rebuilding their network during and after a disaster.\n\nTake away their core volunteers -- the people who go out into the field -- and the system falls apart. So, how do we get their system back up and running.\n\nImagine you’re in Kenya and an earthquake strikes. Systems are down, people are displaced, and your healthcare workers are dispersed. After a few weeks, communications are restored. What happens next? How does Child Count Plus get their workers back?\n\nOur answer is to create a mobile hotline that regroups displaced health workers after disaster strikes.\n
There are two parts our solution. In the first part, \n\nDuring their regular training, they receive an emergency information card to remind them of what to do during an emergency. Their mobile phone number acts as their identification that will give them access to the CODE MAMA Hotline.\n
In the training scenairio Ellie the information Officer goes to childcount plus’ mobile training workshop for its staff workers. She demonstrates how to use the new emergency system to Sajan a health care worker.\n
We only need three pieces of information to reconnect the networks.\nName, number, language.\nPerson and three bullet points: Name, number, language.\n\n----\nindy:  WE FOCUS ON THE SIMPLEST THINGS POSSIBL.ELLIE GIVES HIM A CARD. ON THIS CARD IS THE NUMBER YOU CALL WHEN YOUR PHONE IS WORKING AGAIN. YOUR PHONE # IS IS YOR ID.There are 3 ways we can put into the system.THose are the only 3 th ins that COde Mama needs. That is it.His Name, His Number, His Language.\n
Part two is what happens when…\nDisaster strikes… Code MAMA is activated.\nAs soon as communications are restored, the system begins to automated calls to registered workers based on the Code MAMA database.\n
Ellie activates the system after the disasterl\n
Sajan receives an automated call.\n
What you heard was a simple interaction that collects data.\n
What you heard was a simple interaction that collects data.\n
What you heard was a simple interaction that collects data.\n
Automated calling to all mobile workers.\n
Flexible system allows people to call in.\n
Leaders can use a visual dashboard to monitor the situation. [Example of how a decision might change due to knowing this data]\n
To recap, we have designed a simple emergency recovery system using emergency cards and automated phone calls. We leverage a small amount of information from each user and a couple of tools to rebuild a network of people as quickly as possible.\n\nThe check-in process registers Health Workers,\nAutomated calling system helps Information Officers collect data,\nand a visual dashboard helps Decision Makers monitor the situation and make better decisions.\n \nThis creates an immediate feedback loop between health workers and their leaders, allowing them to react to emergencies as efficiently as possible.\n\nThis feedback loop continues until the emergency winds down and the original system is back in place.\n
We have described the foundation of an emergency recovery system that we believe would have an immediate impact. \n\nThere are also many ways the base system can be extended to become more useful.\n
Our system adds an emergency recovery component to mobile health initiatives like ChildCount+ and Project Mwana. By doing this, we still expect to fulfill our original goal of improving the lives of expecting mothers. But ultimately, CODE MAMA can be used across a much wider range of scenarios that go beyond mobile health.\n
Thanks for listening. This would not have been possible without the help of…\n
And of course, everyone at UNICEF – \n
All the speakers who shared their experiences with us\n
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…and last but not least, Chris, Erica, and Panthea from the Innovations team.\n