[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.31]this is the Technology Report.
[00:04.88]Three university students in Uganda
[00:08.83]have created a smartphone application
[00:11.63]that may help improve health care
[00:14.69]for pregnant women in rural areas.
[00:17.63]Joshua Okello and two other students
[00:21.81]at Makerere University in Kampal
[00:24.92]created the app in 2012.
[00:28.12]They call it WinSenga -
[00:31.03]"senga" is the local word
[00:33.63]uses to describe a female family member
[00:36.93]who helps a woman during pregnancy.
[00:40.09]The "Win" in the name
[00:42.17]comes from the Microsoft product Windows.
[00:45.23]Last year, the computer software company
[00:49.19]gave Mr Okello and his partners $50,000
[00:54.35]to continue development on the WinSenga app.
[00:58.25]A small microphone is placed inside a plastic horn.
[01:03.91]Mr Okello says midwives in the area
[01:07.66]have used similar devices for centuries
[01:11.28]to help women during childbirth.
[01:14.03]"It's a long cone-shaped device
[01:16.04]with a hole through it
[01:17.49]and a flat top.
[01:18.84]The midwife places it on the belly
[01:20.69]and listens in.
[01:22.74]Every midwife in this country has seen it,
[01:25.80]and that is what they are trained with," said Okello.
[01:27.70]The smartphone app records and examines
[01:31.86]the sound of the unborn baby's heartbeat.
[01:34.87]Mr Okello says, if the app suspects a problem,
[01:39.56]then it informs the midwife of different actions she might take.
[01:45.83]"Say you have a baby and
[01:47.60]we detect that the heartbeat is
[01:49.75]less than 120 beats per minute.
[01:52.07]That is a problem. So immediately,
[01:54.22]we pop up something that says ‘Please,
[01:56.13]we suggest that you could do A, B, C, D,'" explained Okello.
[01:58.77]Mr Okello says having a mobile device with this app
[02:03.63]could make it easier for health care workers
[02:06.64]to reach women in villages far away from cities.
[02:10.95]He says it will also be less costly
[02:14.96]than the machines that are now being used.
[02:18.13]"We are getting a solution that's cheaper,
[02:20.73]which means that more clinics are going to get it.
[02:23.03]If we could get Huawei
[02:24.03]or I don't know who to give us phones for free,
[02:26.84]we are looking at a solution that's less than $100," said Okello.
[02:29.80]Juliet Birungi is an obstetrician -
[02:33.85]a doctor who cares for pregnant women.
[02:37.30]She has tried WinSenga.
[02:40.00]She says hospitals could use the app
[02:43.66]to help medical workers follow the health of the baby,
[02:47.12]even when they are not there.
[02:50.09]"You have so many mothers in labor,
[02:52.24]and we do not have enough staff.
[02:53.55]You find that while the mother is
[02:55.91]laboring here, the other one is delivering,
[02:58.66]the other one is bleeding.
[03:00.61]So when you come,
[03:01.71]you are able to look at the recording," said Birungi.
[03:04.11]Doctor Birungi says
[03:05.96]having these up to date records of the baby's health condition,
[03:10.17]could make the difference between life and death.
[03:14.43]But she says the app is not a substitute
[03:18.48]for a trained medical worker.
[03:20.58]Mr Okello says the app could also be helpful
[03:25.24]in other developing countries
[03:27.99]with similar problems to Uganda.
[03:29.74]And he says, with further changes to the app,
[03:33.80]it could even be used at home
[03:36.31]by pregnant women in developed countries.
[03:39.55]Work on WinSenga continues.
[03:42.82]Mr Okello and his team are busy preparing
[03:46.72]for a major series of clinical testing this month.
[03:51.22]And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report.
[03:55.62]I'm June Simms.