CURRENT PROGRAMS

OUR WORK

CURRENT PROGRAMS

GHANA

Kybele has been actively working in Ghana since 2007. We target high-volume regional and teaching hospitals that receive many high-risk patients and are often understaffed, ill-equipped, and inadequately resourced to provide the advanced maternal and neonatal clinical care needed for these patients. Ghana has an alarming maternal mortality rate of 263 deaths per 100,000 live births and a neonatal mortality rate of 22 deaths per 1,000 live births. Kybele has partnered with Ghana Health Service and health facilities that receive the most complicated, at-risk patients to build the capacity of frontline staff to provide advanced-level maternal and newborn clinical care, to support ongoing quality improvement, to provide essential equipment and supplies, to bring operational protocols in line with global standards and best practices, and to strengthen referral within and between hospitals. In addition, we were instrumental in the establishment of the third anesthesia training program in Ghana that filled a significant surgical service gap. Kybele has collaborated on numerous publicly and privately funded multi-year projects with USAID Ghana, the JSI Focus Regional Health Project, URC Systems for Health, PATH, Canadian Food for the Hungry, East Meets West Foundation, Access Bank, and Ghana International Women's Club. Most recently Kybele was awarded multi-million dollar funding from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) to implement the Making Every Baby Count Initiative (MEBCI 1.0 and 2.0) and from Grand Challenges Canada for that testing and transition to national scale of our Obstetric Triage Implementation Package (OTIP). Our evidenced based approach has garnered global attention and our achievements have been well chronicled in numerous peer-reviewed medical journals.

SERBIA/BOSNIA/ MACEDONIA

The tumultuous recent history of the Balkans region had significant impact on the quality and level of services for care surrounding childbirth. Since 2012, Kybele has been working in the Balkans, where teams have primarily focused on improving obstetric anesthesia care. We spearhead an Annual School of Obstetric Anesthesia in Novi Sad, Serbia. This innovative program provides hands-on training in the latest obstetric anesthesia techniques to anesthesiology faculty members and residents across Serbia and surrounding countries. As a results, some facilities report regional (spinal and epidural) anesthesia reates for Cesarean delivery approaching 90%. In 2017, Kybele began holding annual workshops and training in ultrasound-guided regional techniques, attracting anesthesiologists from across Serbia, Bosnia, and North Macedonia. Additional training efforts expanded to point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) were held in the region as well as courses in FAST (Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma), FATE (Focused Assessment Transthoracic Echocardiography), gastric and lung ultrasonography, and abdominal wall blocks. Kybele continues to host educational trainings, conferences and professional gatherings strategically in cities throughout the Balkans with committed local leaders and partners.

UKRAINE

Despite reduced rates of maternal mortality in the past decade, Ukraine remains one of the European countries with the highest maternal mortality ratio - nearly 10 times higher than that of neighboring Poland. In 2018, Kybele began working with Ternopil National Medical University, The Perinatal Center, Matu i Dutuna, City Hospital #2 and multiple other regional hospitals in the Ternopil Region to increase the adoption of neuraxial techniques for C-section, support the provision of labor analgesia, and improve the birth process. Our approach centered on empowering local physicians to use tools that are readily available to them to provide the best care possible. We also worked with our partners to set up master courses for local anesthesiologists, obstetricians, and neonatologists. Finally, we focused on community outreach in Ternopil to help educate the public about the possibility of safe and painless labor. The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has had devastating effects on women and newborns due to closures of health facilities, displacement of healthcare workers, increase in trauma cases, and psychological distress. Kybele responded rapidly to the Ukraine crisis, securing and deploying lifesaving equipment and medical supplies to support the care of vulnerable women and children.

BOLIVIA

Bolivia is South America's poorest country, with a maternal and neonatal mortality rates that reflect the lack of resources and human capacity needed to provide high-quality obstetric care. During our preliminary visit to Cochabamba in 2019, we identified several opportunities for partnership beginning in 2024 related to improving recovery-room protocols, reducing and treating post-surgical infections, improving newborn resuscitation, and initiating labor pain relief.

CURRENT PROGRAMS (GREEN)

  • Ghana
  • Serbia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Republic of Macedonia
  • Ukraine
  • Bolivia

FORMER PROGRAMS or * SITE VISITS (YELLOW)

  • Turkey
  • Croatia
  • Egypt
  • Republic of Georgia
  • Armenia
  • Vietnam *
  • Moldova *
  • Romania
  • Brazil *
  • Mongolia *