Improving the health of mothers and newborn babies through telehealth

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Charles Lewis

PROSAMI, USA

: J Womens Health, Issues Care

Abstract

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Every day, scores of women die at childbirth in the world, especially in the very remote areas. Many of these deaths can be prevented through effective maternity care. Studies show that person best equipped to provide community-based and cost effective care to women in childbearing age is the person with midwifery skills who lives in the community alongside the women she serves. This poster highlights the crucial values of telehealth in strengthening midwifery education in the rural areas in developing countries. The challenges and successes of implementing such model will be discussed.

Biography

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Charles Lewis has worked for the University of Virginia (UVA) Medical Center for Telehealth for the past decade, first as a Video Analyst and, most recently, as a Senior Video Systems Engineer. At work, he is meticulous in designing and implementing Tele-communications between our patients and providers to ensure access to quality healthcare that would not otherwise be available. This approach has driven his work far from Madison County where he lives, to Lee County in the Coalfields and to the rural Mbujimayi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He has worked with faculty leading outreach efforts in Africa to create transformative programs. He became a Board Member of Prosami, an organization dedicated to the promotion of maternal and infant health by training midwives in the DRC. The Center for Telehealth, with his dedicated work, has embraced the potential that this confluence unleashed and has worked tirelessly to harness the power of telecommunication to extend the latest medical care to those who live at the margins of the healthcare system.