The risk of dying of haemorrhages in connection with a pregnancy or birth is 50 times higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in more developed countries. Midwife and PhD student Christina Marie Braüner is keen to break this sad statistic. And she wants to go to Ghana to find out whether something as simple as an app for smartphones can help reduce the mortality rate of women giving birth in the developing countries.

“The app developed by Maternity Worldwide consists of various animation videos that give midwives a variety of useful tips, as well as showing them how to use medicine and how to establish drip systems for women giving birth. It’s a cheap way to teach midwifery, and we have good reason to believe that it works. A pilot study from Kenya shows that teaching midwifery by video can be just as effective as traditional courses, which are far more expensive and more difficult to organise,” she explains.

“My project is suitable for crowd funding because it’s all about something that has an immediate appeal. It’s also easy for outsiders to understand what it’s all about,” she explains.

She has already tried raising money by crowd funding on a small scale, and has been favourably impressed so far.

“Telling people about your research in words which your friends and family can understand is actually good for you. You also get immediate feedback on your project. For instance, I’ve been given some useful feedback by a doctor from Nigeria who has great experience in this area. Keeping an eye on how much money I’ve raised is also highly motivating,” she says.

The crowd-funding site that she uses disburses donations to researchers on an ongoing basis. So far she’s raised USD 2,410 of the USD 4,755 she needs; and she will go on applying until the whole amount has been collected. If everything goes according to plan, she’ll be travelling to Ghana in the autumn.

Read more about the project here: gofundme.com/christinabrauner