Inside a Kilimanjaro Antenatal Clinic: Can Better Data Improve Maternal and Newborn Health?

By |2026-09-17T11:07:50+01:00September 14th, 2026|

By Dr Jacqueline Lyons, Project Manager

When hospitals cannot store and share maternal health data within reliable, electronic systems, clinicians may miss critical information that protects mothers and babies. For women in sub-Saharan Africa, already carrying the global burden of maternal and infant mortality, the stakes of fragmented health data systems are particularly high.

LINDA-FAMILIA (meaning ‘protect the family’ in Swahili) is an EU-funded initiative which aims to support the development and scale-up of digital infrastructure for maternal health data systems in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Since the project began in August 2025, the digital health landscape has evolved considerably across all four countries, with national Ministries of Health now leading the way in either implementing new digital health systems or scaling up and strengthening existing ones.

Last month, LINDA-FAMILIA project researchers gathered at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to work together on a key project task: evaluation of the newly implemented digital health systems in each of the four project countries. Much time and discussion was spent refining approaches that will be used to capture meaningful feedback from healthcare workers in various settings on the usability, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of any new digital systems implemented, compared with existing ones. Such feedback is crucial to ensuring digital systems are correctly developed and scaled up from the outset. Successful systems must be practical to use, appropriate for their settings, and acceptable to the healthcare workers collecting the patient data.

After three days of project collaboration at Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) on the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) campus in Moshi, a small group of us crossed the town to visit a local healthcare facility (Pasua Health Centre) to see first-hand how maternal data is currently recorded and stored. At the busy antenatal clinic, pregnant women had routine weight and blood pressure measurements recorded by a nurse on paper. Additional medical information was captured by doctors at the clinic for input into GoTHOMIS, a digital healthcare platform used across public hospitals and health centres in Tanzania. We learned that while each woman has a unique patient identifier, there is currently no integration between the various health data systems used across different clinical departments, meaning antenatal data (including important information on infectious diseases history) is accessed separately to postnatal data, ultrasound data must be obtained from the sonography department, and so on.

Pasua Health Centre

While healthcare staff at Pasua have desktop computers available to enable point-of-care digital health data capture, these were not in use when we visited because of internet connectivity issues. Many of the LINDA-FAMILIA project regions experience regular challenges with internet reliability, adding further complexities to the project’s ambitions.

Joining us on the visit to Pasua Health Centre was Melkamu Tiruneh Alemu, a Public Health Specialist from Ethiopia completing his PhD on the LINDA-FAMILIA project in the area of maternal infectious diseases in East Africa. Melkamu spoke at length with Pasua’s IT Officer to understand more about maternal data capture processes at the facility. The conversation confirmed the fragmented nature of the facility’s health data systems, with paper records less likely to be consulted when making clinical decisions around a patient’s care, potentially increasing risks for mothers and newborns. Melkamu shared his thoughts:

“Integrated nursing, midwifery, and physician care is essential to ensuring continuous, coordinated, and high-quality antenatal care. Complete, accurate, standardised, and readily accessible maternal health information including clinical assessments, screening, laboratory results, medical treatments and outcomes enables healthcare providers to make timely clinical decisions, identify risks early and ensure appropriate follow-up. Effective integration of health information systems is critical to improving the quality and continuity of care, and ultimately to improving maternal and new-born health outcomes.“

There are many complex challenges embedded within maternal and child healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa, with fragmented health data systems representing just one issue. However, the return on investment from successfully strengthening digital health systems could be enormous. Through supporting the implementation, scale-up and evaluation of digital health infrastructure across Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, the LINDA-FAMILIA project is proud to play its part in strengthening clinical data capture into the future, and in supporting clinicians to provide safer care for mothers and babies.

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Designing a digital health system

By |2026-09-17T11:11:06+01:00August 27th, 2026|

The human side of designing digital health systems

By Stella Martha Migamba, Project Manager, Uganda

When a digital health information system is complex for the people who rely on it, such as frontline health workers, the consequences reach far beyond a slow screen. A system that is hard to understand can delay patient care and make it difficult to capture the accurate, timely information that guides diagnosis and intervention. When patient data is incomplete, gaps open up in patient management, diagnoses can be inaccurate, and life saving interventions can be delayed. For mothers and newborns, those delays can be the difference between a good outcome and an adverse one.

This is why understanding how a system actually performs in the hands of its users matters so much. Looking closely at a system’s usability, accessibility, sustainability, and economic cost gives us the insight we need to improve it. A system that is easier and more satisfying to use is also a system that health workers are more willing to accept and keep using.

With this in mind, the LINDA FAMILIA project organised a three day workshop at the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute in Tanzania to shape the strategies the project will use for Work Package 3, which covers Intervention Evaluation. The workshop brought together a multidisciplinary team of PhD fellows, supervisors, research fellows, project managers, and IT officers. Together they brainstormed practical approaches for assessing how users of digital health information systems experience and interact with those systems.

Dr. Seleman Ntawuyirushintege, WP3 lead explained

“For the system to be sustainable, it has to be accessible. Sustainability should be assessed using the RE-AIM approach, which looks at Reach, Adoption, Implementation, Effectiveness, and Maintenance.”

The conversations helped ground the wider team in how the work should be organised. Mark Outeke, one of the IT officers, noted that the meeting sharpened his understanding of how Work Package 3 activities should come together in practice.

That shared understanding is already translating into concrete work. Two PhD fellows, Chacha Mangu and Fils Uwitonze, are developing proposals to evaluate the use of the e-register across the four implementing countries: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Evaluating how a system is actually used is more than an academic exercise. It helps us identify and troubleshoot the everyday challenges health workers face as they carry out their tasks. Addressing those challenges can lead to faster navigation, shorter patient waiting times, and more timely management of the people who come through the door.

Strengthening and scaling the use of digital health information systems is a gradual process, but it is a critical one for improving health systems overall. By improving the experiences of the people who use these systems every day, we can support timely clinical decisions and, ultimately, better maternal and newborn health.

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From Cork to Kilimanjaro: a decade of partnership in maternal and newborn health

By |2026-09-17T15:40:10+01:00July 29th, 2026|

From Cork to Kilimanjaro: a decade of partnership in maternal and newborn health

 

A global challenge, unequally shared

Each year, an estimated 2.3 million newborns die within the first weeks of life. Hundreds of thousands of women also die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, the vast majority in low- and middle-income countries. Limited access to specialist care, trained personnel, and reliable health data continues to shape outcomes.

A decade ago, this was a significant challenge in Tanzania, where neonatal mortality was considerably higher than in high-income settings. Early estimates suggested that nearly five out of every hundred babies did not survive the first weeks of life.

Addressing this requires more than medical innovation alone. It depends on strengthening health systems, improving access to timely care, and ensuring that data can support both immediate decisions and longer-term planning. It was within this context that a partnership between University College Cork (UCC) and clinical and research institutions in Tanzania began to take shape.

 

Where the partnership began

In 2016, researchers and clinicians from the INFANT Research Centre at UCC travelled to Tanzania to explore collaboration in maternal and child health. Over the course of the visit, the team engaged with a number of potential partner sites, with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) and the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) emerging as the best mutual fit for ongoing collaboration.

This led to the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding between UCC and the Good Samaritan Foundation, encompassing KCMC, KCRI, and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College.

From the outset, the partnership was shaped by a shared vision and a commitment to working together over the long term. Reflecting on this, Professor Blandina T. Mmbaga, Director of the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), explains:

“What has made this partnership meaningful is a shared vision of providing the best care for mothers and newborns, and a trust in working together to achieve that.”

This approach focused on adapting advances in neonatal care, diagnostics, and data systems for lower-resource settings through co-development and shared priorities, supported by knowledge exchange, skills development, and collaborative research in areas of greatest need.

 

From Cork to Kilimanjaro

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Building the foundations

Early collaboration focused on strengthening newborn care at KCMC, where the smallest and most vulnerable infants faced significant challenges to survival.

Through a combination of philanthropic support, clinical collaboration, and training, the partnership introduced key improvements in care. These included the establishment and equipping of a neonatal intensive care unit, which opened in 2021, alongside essential equipment to support newborns who needed extra care in their first days of life, and training for staff in emergency and infection care. Ongoing education for nursing and medical staff was also a central part of this work.

In 2023, a dedicated 20-bed Kangaroo Mother Care unit was opened, supported through student fundraising and philanthropic contributions. This simple but effective approach enables mothers to provide continuous skin-to-skin care, improving survival for premature and low birth weight infants.

For mothers, the impact has been immediate and visible. Professor Mmbaga reflects on how this has changed care in practice:

“We have seen real improvements in how care is delivered and in outcomes for preterm babies. Now, more mothers are able to stay with their babies during care, which has helped reduce infection risk and support earlier discharge.”

These changes are felt in very real ways. More babies are surviving those first critical days, and more mothers can stay close to them during care. In the Kangaroo Mother Care unit, mothers hold their babies skin-to-skin, helping them grow stronger each day. It is a simple approach, but one that is changing outcomes and experiences for families.

These efforts have contributed to measurable improvements in outcomes, with perinatal mortality in the region declining over time, reflecting hundreds of additional newborn lives saved each year.

Making data visible: the Kilimanjaro Birth Registry

Alongside improvements in care, the partnership identified an opportunity to strengthen how health data was captured and used.

At KCMC, the Medical Birth Registry had been in place since 2000, with information on pregnancy and birth collected on paper and stored locally. This provided a valuable foundation, while also highlighting the potential to make better use of data to support care for mothers and babies.

Through collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and software engineers, the registry was transformed into a web-based system by 2019.

The Birth Registry now captures data on approximately 2,500 births each year, with over 20 years of records, representing more than 60,000 births, brought together in one place.

Clinicians can now access real-time information when it matters most, helping them make more informed decisions for the women and newborns in their care. It also makes it easier to identify risks earlier and plan services to better meet the needs of the community.

The registry has also provided a foundation for further digital health innovation, demonstrating how data systems can be developed collaboratively and adapted to local needs.

 

From pilot to platform: Kilimanjaro ULTRA

Building on the success of the birth registry, the partnership expanded into a broader digital health platform through the Kilimanjaro ULTRA project.

The platform supports care for mothers and children across the health system, from hospitals to community settings.

Between 2022 and 2024, the system was piloted across a network of healthcare sites, capturing over 5,000 antenatal visits, approximately 4,000 deliveries, and more than 5,500 early childhood visits.

This created a more complete picture of each mother and child’s journey through care, helping to connect services and ensure information is available at every stage. It also makes it easier to identify gaps and improve how care is delivered.

 

Scaling impact: the LINDA-FAMILIA programme

By 2025, the partnership had evolved into a multi-country collaboration through the LINDA-FAMILIA programme, now active in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda. The programme focuses on adapting and scaling digital health systems to support care across pregnancy, postpartum, neonatal, and early childhood stages, including infectious diseases and vaccinations.

It supports the move from paper-based records to integrated digital systems, helping to improve how care is delivered for mothers and children.

LINDA-FAMILIA, meaning “protect the family” in Kiswahili, builds on earlier work in Kilimanjaro, extending the approach of co-development and shared learning to a broader regional context.

It brings together academic institutions, public health agencies, and ministries of health, reflecting the growing scale and ambition of the partnership.

As the work has expanded, it has also demonstrated the importance of strong systems underpinning long-term impact. Ali Khashan, Professor of Perinatal Epidemiology at University College Cork, explains:

“Kilimanjaro ULTRA and LINDA-FAMILIA have shown that strong governance, local ownership, and high-quality data are not just technical achievements, but the foundations of sustainable and equitable health systems.”

 

A partnership built on mutual learning

Over the past decade, collaboration between UCC and its Tanzanian partners has extended beyond individual projects to include training, education, and joint research. This has involved the joint supervision of PhD students, undergraduate medical electives, and academic exchange through shared roles across both institutions.

These activities build capacity in both directions, strengthening the ability of researchers and clinicians to address shared challenges in maternal and newborn health. They also reflect a core principle of the partnership: that meaningful progress depends on sustained collaboration and shared expertise.

From Cork to Kilimanjaro

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Looking ahead: the next decade

Reflecting on the broader significance of this work, Professor Geraldine Boylan, Director of the INFANT Research Centre at University College Cork, notes:

“Maternal and newborn health remains one of the most significant and under-resourced challenges globally. Partnerships like this demonstrate what can be achieved when research, clinical care, and collaboration come together with a shared purpose. Over the past decade, this work has contributed to meaningful improvements in outcomes for mothers and babies, while also building the foundations for long-term, sustainable change.”

Ten years on from its beginnings, the partnership continues to grow in both scope and ambition. Work is already underway to scale digital health systems across Tanzania and East Africa through the LINDA-FAMILIA programme, alongside plans to expand research in maternal and child nutrition, early brain health, and areas such as neonatal neurology and cerebral palsy.

Despite the progress of the past decade, maternal and newborn health remains significantly under-resourced in many parts of the world. Continued investment in research, innovation and partnership will be essential to ensure more mothers and babies benefit from advances in care.

If you’d like to help accelerate this work, you can support INFANT Research Centre through a donation. Every contribution helps advance research, strengthen international partnerships, and improve outcomes for mothers and children in Ireland and around the world.

 

 

 

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Advancing maternal and child health through better data

By |2026-07-07T15:27:37+01:00July 7th, 2026|

Advancing maternal and child health through better data

Reliable, high-quality health data is essential for improving care for mothers, babies and children. But when health information is collected differently across countries or systems cannot communicate with one another, it becomes harder to monitor outcomes, inform clinical decisions and generate the evidence needed to strengthen healthcare.

As part of the Horizon Europe-funded LINDA-FAMILIA project, researchers and health system partners from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania recently came together in Addis Ababa to advance a shared approach to data harmonisation and interoperability across maternal, newborn and child health systems.

Professor Ali Khashan from INFANT Research Centre at University College Cork provided technical leadership during the workshop, leading sessions focused on improving the comparability of maternal health data across participating countries. Working with project partners, participants reviewed existing data collection systems, identified common data elements, explored opportunities for federated research, and developed a regional roadmap for harmonising health data in line with World Health Organization recommendations.

Alongside this work, technical sessions explored how Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems can better integrate with District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2), helping countries strengthen digital health infrastructure, improve reporting and support more informed clinical and policy decision-making.

This workshop marks another important milestone for the LINDA-FAMILIA project as partners work together to build interoperable digital health systems that improve maternal, newborn and child health across East Africa.

Read the full workshop report from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute here.

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Building stronger evidence for better maternal and child health in East Africa

By |2026-05-06T14:16:53+01:00May 6th, 2026|

Building stronger evidence for better maternal and child health in East Africa

By Jimmy Patrick, Alunyo PhD fellow, Uganda

Every day across East Africa, thousands of pregnant women miss antenatal care appointments not because they do not care, but due to barriers such as distance, cost, competing responsibilities, or simply forgetting. When these visits are missed, early warning signs such as infections, high blood pressure, or pregnancy complications go unnoticed, putting both mothers and babies at risk.

Improving maternal and child health depends on stronger health systems. It requires stronger evidence to guide care, policy, and innovation.

That is why the LINDA-FAMILIA Project brought together nine PhD students and one postdoctoral researcher in Kigali, Rwanda for a four-day intensive training on systematic review and meta-analysis.

The training, held from 20-24 April 2026, focused on helping students build and bring together evidence across different areas of the project, particularly within Work Package 3 (Intervention Evaluation) and Work Package 4 (Clinical Research). Throughout the week, participants developed practical skills in writing research protocols, searching scientific literature, extracting and reviewing data, and analysing results using Review Manager (RevMan).

The workshop also extended beyond the classroom. Through visits to Rwanda’s National Health Intelligence Center, students saw how health data is used in real healthcare settings to support decision-making.

For many, the training shifted how they think about research.

     

Reflecting on the week, PhD student Espoir shared that one of his biggest lessons was the importance of reading more deeply and intentionally. For him, understanding the existing literature is not just a requirement for PhD proposal development, but the foundation for identifying gaps and building stronger research questions.

For PhD student Jimmy, the training built confidence in assessing the quality of research.

“The training increased my confidence in assessing the quality of evidence using tools like the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, understanding heterogeneity, and conducting subgroup analysis. These skills will directly support the scoping review we are conducting under WP4.”

PhD students Jimmy, Hiwot and Rehema, are currently working on a review exploring the use of SMS reminders in maternal healthcare across East Africa. This work will help inform one of LINDA-FAMILIA’s upcoming clinical trials.

Looking ahead, Professor Ali Khashan encouraged students to continue building their skills in epidemiology and biostatistics, stay connected with supervisors, start writing early, and prepare abstracts for the upcoming EDCTP Conference in Madrid.

Special thanks go to Dr Gillian Maher for leading much of the training and to the Rwanda team for hosting a productive week of learning, reflection, and collaboration.

At the heart of the LINDA-FAMILIA project is a focus on strengthening researchers, because better evidence can lead to better care for mothers, babies, and families across East Africa.

  

 

 

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Building Research Capacity Across LINDA-FAMILIA

By |2026-03-04T16:08:12+00:00March 4th, 2026|

Strengthening research capacity is essential for improving maternal and newborn health. When local teams have the skills, knowledge and systems to generate high-quality research and use its findings, they are better equipped to design services and respond to the challenges facing women, children and families in their communities.

This ambition sits at the heart of the LINDA-FAMILIA project, which brings together researchers, clinicians and public health experts working across multiple countries to strengthen the evidence base for improving maternal and newborn health.

A key focus of the project is enhancing the ability of individuals and institutions to conduct high-quality research and make effective use of data collected through eRegistries.

One of the project’s first milestones has been the development of a Theory of Change for research capacity strengthening (RCS).

A Theory of Change helps map how a project’s activities are expected to lead to meaningful and lasting change. In practical terms, it means identifying the challenges we want to address, agreeing on the activities that will help tackle them, and defining the outcomes we hope to achieve over time.

This framework was created during a collaborative workshop at the LINDA-FAMILIA kick-off meeting in Istanbul in November 2025 (pictured above). Partners from across the consortium came together to share their perspectives on key issues and priorities for strengthening research capacity. The result is a collective document that reflects the experiences and needs of teams working across the different countries and contexts that make up LINDA-FAMILIA.

The resulting Theory of Change, summarised in the accompanying graphic, now serves as a roadmap for research capacity strengthening within the project. It will guide activities throughout LINDA-FAMILIA, helping partners focus on the outcomes they want to achieve, and the steps needed to get there.

By investing in research capacity strengthening, LINDA-FAMILIA aims to support sustainable improvements in data use, research quality and evidence-informed decision-making across participating countries.

 

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Advancing Digital Health Integration: LINDA-FAMILIA Technical Meeting in Ethiopia

By |2026-03-02T12:06:52+00:00March 2nd, 2026|

Strengthening digital health systems requires more than technology. It requires coordination, shared standards, and strong partnerships. On 26 February 2026, partners of the LINDA-FAMILIA project in Ethiopia came together for a high-level technical meeting to move system integration plans forward.

Hosted at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, the meeting brought together experts from the Ministry of Health Digital Health Department, the Addis Ababa Regional Health Bureau, EPHI’s National Data Management Center, HISP Ethiopia, and Pulse Tech, alongside other key partners.

Discussions focused on strengthening interoperability between Electronic Medical Records and DHIS2, improving real-time reporting, standardising metadata, and preparing for system deployment. A steering committee was established to oversee integration, with clear technical responsibilities assigned across institutions.

This meeting marks another important step toward building a more connected, data-driven maternal and child health system in Ethiopia.

You can read the full story on our partner’s website here.

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LINDA-FAMILIA Project Launches with Four-Day Kick-Off Meeting in Istanbul

By |2026-07-14T11:16:06+01:00January 19th, 2026|

The LINDA-FAMILIA research project officially commenced with a four-day kick-off meeting held in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2025. The meeting brought together over 30 participants from the project’s global partner consortium, with representatives from Ireland, Ethiopia, Norway, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and the United Kingdom. The event marked an important milestone for the project, setting the direction for collaborative research, capacity strengthening, and policy engagement in maternal and child health.

Day 1

Marked the formal opening of the project with a Principal Investigator meeting in the morning, followed by a keynote presentation from the Director of INFANT, Prof Geraldine Boylan. Prof Boylan welcomed participants and outlined the overarching vision and ambition of LINDA-FAMILIA within the Horizon Europe framework. This was followed by detailed work package meetings, during which work package leads presented planned activities, timelines, and deliverables. These sessions provided clarity on roles and responsibilities and facilitated cross-work-package discussions to identify synergies and address potential challenges early in the project lifecycle.

Day 2

Day 2 focused on policy engagement and digital health systems. The morning opened with an insightful presentation from the Chief Medical Officer of Tanzania, Dr Grace Magembe who shared national perspectives on maternal and child health priorities and the importance of strengthening health information systems. This was followed by a live demonstration of an eRegistry system, giving partners a practical understanding of how digital tools can support improved data capture, continuity of care, and evidence-informed decision-making.

In the afternoon, consortium members participated in a dedicated meeting with policymakers to discuss strategies for transitioning from paper-based to digital health records. Representatives from all four African partner countries – Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda – summarised the challenges and opportunities within their national contexts, identifying shared learning opportunities across countries. The session was further enriched by the remote participation of Dr Semakula Muhammed, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Rwanda, who provided valuable insights into the structure of Rwanda’s healthcare system and its ongoing digital health reforms.

Day 3

Day 3 centred on capacity strengthening for both early-career researchers and the wider consortium. A series of workshops supported PhD students in developing research and professional skills, while additional sessions engaged all partners. The day also included a comprehensive Project Management session, which presented guidance and best practices for the successful delivery of a Horizon Europe project, clarified partner responsibilities, and outlined reporting requirements. A lengthy and productive discussion on data sharing reflected the consortium’s shared commitment to ethical, transparent, and equitable research practices.

Day 4

Day 4 continued the focus on capacity strengthening for PhD students. PhD candidates were given the opportunity to pitch their research projects to the consortium, fostering mentorship, collaboration, and constructive feedback. The final session of the meeting, titled “Maternal and Child Health Research Grants to Consider Beyond LINDA-FAMILIA”, highlighted opportunities for future research funding and encouraged partners to think strategically about sustaining collaboration beyond the project’s lifetime.

Overall, the four-day kick-off meeting in Istanbul was highly successful, providing extensive opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, and LINDA-FAMILIA team building. With strong engagement across the consortium and a clear roadmap in place, the project is well positioned to deliver impactful research outcomes in maternal and child health.

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UCC-led digital health project awarded almost €5m to save lives of mothers and babies in Africa

By |2026-01-19T14:05:28+00:00August 19th, 2025|

A new digital health project has been awarded €4.9 million funding to help protect mothers and children in East Africa by using smart digital tools to fight infectious diseases and save lives.

A University College Cork (UCC) led project, LINDA-FAMILIA, meaning “Protect the Family” in Swahili, has been funded under the Horizon Europe Programme to revolutionise maternal and child health in East Africa.

Led by the INFANT Research Centre at UCC, the initiative will deploy scalable, interoperable digital health systems to track infectious diseases and support health services in pregnancy, postpartum, and childhood care.

Transforming Maternal and Child Health Through Digital Innovation

LINDA-FAMILIA will implement an open source, integrated digital health information system to replace paper-based records in four priority regions: Addis Ababa – Ethiopia, Eastern Province – Rwanda, Kilimanjaro Region – Tanzania, Lango Sub-region – Uganda.

Using the free and open source DHIS2 platform, the world’s largest health information system, the project will integrate 11 World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended Digital Health Interventions (DHIs) to create country specific eRegistries. These systems will capture individual level health data on infectious diseases and vaccinations, enabling improved clinical care, disease surveillance, and public health research, at lower cost than existing systems. DHIS2 is especially suited to the LINDA-FAMILIA project as it is designed for use in low resources settings where internet coverage is unreliable. It makes use of technology freely available in sub-Saharan Africa.

The initiative brings together 11 global partner consortiums from Ireland, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Norway and the UK and is coordinated by UCC, under the leadership of Ali Khashan, Professor in Perinatal Epidemiology, School of Public Health and INFANT Research Centre at UCC.

“This project addresses a fundamental gap in health systems: access to reliable, timely data,” said Prof. Ali Khashan, Project Lead. “By combining global scientific expertise with deep local knowledge, we’re building sustainable digital tools that not only improve health data systems but also support clinical decision-making in maternal and child health.”

Why this work matters: A Region Burdened by Preventable Deaths

While many countries, face challenges with outdated and fragmented digital health infrastructures, the LINDA-FAMILIA research team chose to focus on East Africa because of the urgent public health need and a strong regional momentum toward digital transformation.

Sub Saharan Africa continues to face disproportionately high rates of maternal and child mortality. In 2020 alone, the region accounted for 70% of maternal deaths worldwide, with infectious diseases such as HIV, malaria, hepatitis B, syphilis, TB, and sepsis as leading contributors. These are preventable conditions – but health systems are hindered by fragmented, siloed, and paper-based data systems.

LINDA-FAMILIA aims to correct that by enabling real time data use for evidence-based care, empowering both healthcare providers and policy makers with the information they need to deliver timely interventions:

“We see firsthand the urgent need for stronger health data systems across East Africa. By replacing fragmented, paper-based records with a scalable and integrated digital system, we can dramatically improve how care is delivered and ultimately, save lives,” says Prof. Blandina Mmbaga, Project Scientific Coordinator and Director Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute.

Dr Simon Woodworth, the project’s Information Systems Lead said: “The LINDA-FAMILIA system is designed not only to capture reliable data but also to empower local health workers – and in turn pregnant women – with the information they need to make safer choices. By strengthening digital systems and making them accessible and relevant at community level, we are creating solutions that will remain practical and sustainable long after the project ends.”

Built on a Legacy of Innovation

The project builds on the ULTRA Project, a collaboration between UCC, Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), and the Global Pregnancy Collaboration (CoLab). ULTRA successfully developed and implemented an eRegistry system in maternal and child health units across Tanzania, transforming how health data is captured and used. The ULTRA project was funded by an IRC Coalesce grant.

This work also honours the memory of the late Professor Christopher Redman (1941–2024) A great inspirer, mentor, scientist, and collaborator who made giant clinical steps forward in the field of maternal and newborn health and who contributed significantly to the early stages of this work. His inspiration and dedication live on in this project.

By building institutional capacity and ensuring integration with national health systems, the LINDA-FAMILIA project supports long-term sustainability. It aims to serve as a model for how digital health systems can contribute to universal health coverage, improved epidemic preparedness, and equitable healthcare across low-resource settings:

“This is impressive and as one of the partners we are looking forward to a successful implementation which will enable us to draw best practices for scale up,” says Dr Grace Magembe, Chief Medical Officer, Tanzania.

In the News:

  • https://www.corkindependent.com/2025/08/28/ucc-led-project-to-revolutionise-maternal-and-child-health-in-east-africa/
  • https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41692419.html
  • https://www.cubsucc.com/news/ucc-researchers-awarded–4-9m-funding-for-digital-health-solutions-for-maternal-and-child-health-in-africa/
  • https://www.ucc.ie/en/med-health/news/ucc-led-digital-health-project-awarded-almost-5m-.html
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