Remi Ladigbolu/
A UK-based Nigerian medical doctor and academic, Dr. Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, and his team of researchers have secured an undisclosed amount in funding for their work on how Google Maps could be used to help pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa.
Banke-Thomas, a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Greenwich, received the funding based on a paper published in October last year, in which he explored how Google Maps could be used for generating closer-to-reality travel time estimates for pregnant women in emergency situations.
Greenwich University made this known in a statement on its website.
It said that the research, which Banke-Thomas commenced in Lagos in 2019, could “help governments to identify and make plans to address hotspots of emergency critical maternal health in sub–Saharan Africa.”
However, the university said in response to an email enquiries by NewsmakersNG that it was not able to disclose the amount of the funding secured.
“Thank you for showing interest in the below story. Unfortunately we are not currently announcing the amount of funding secured for the project but I would be happy to answer any other questions for your story. Please do send any questions you have over to me and I will provide as much information as possible,” it wrote.
Similarly, Banke-Thomas told NewsmakersNG that an “existing non-disclosure agreement” makes it impossible disclose information on the amount provided by Google, adding that the project, billed to run for two and a half years, will begin in Nigeria.
“While I am unable to share details on the specific amount that Google has provided as grant for this research due to existing non-disclosure agreements, I can tell you that the project is for two and a half years. Our initial focus is Nigeria, building on the pioneering work that my team and I did in Lagos in 2019,” wrote in an email.
He said the result of the 2019 research, which was shared with the Lagos State government, informed the choice of the location of Eti-Osa Maternal and Child Care Centre.
According to Banke-Thomas, “In the study carried out in 2019, we identified the four major hotspots from where many pregnant women need more than one hour to travel to reach public hospitals in Lagos State, using data from hospital records and google Maps. These hotspots were Alimosho/Ifako-Ijaiye (Cluster A), Eti-Osa (Cluster B) and Ijanikin/Morogbo (Cluster C) and north of Ikorodu (Cluster D).
“We briefed the Lagos State Government on the findings of this study and it informed their choice on citing a new public hospital being built by the Lagos State Government, while confirming that the location of the Eti-Osa Maternal and Child Care Centre was spot on (See link to discussion with Honourable Commissioner for Health).
“This study was published in the prestigious Health Policy and Planning journal (See link to the study). It was this study that Google saw which made them reach out to me asking if I was able to scale up the work across low- and middle-income countries. The project will be managed by a consortium of researchers that I have brought together called OnTIME Consortium. TIME meaning ‘Tackling In-transit delays for Mothers in Emergency’. See link.”
Writing further on the research, Greenwich University noted, “The proposed digital platform will inform actions to improve geographical accessibility to such critical health services, underpinned by context-specific evidence, leading to saving the lives of women and newborns.
“Thanks to this funding from Google, Dr Banke-Thomas and his team can scale up their work across urban areas of low- and middle-income countries. The funds are to be used to set up a novel consortium called the OnTIME Consortium, (TIME meaning Tackling In-transit delays for Mothers in Emergency).
“This project will use Google Directions API data and geo-coded databases on functionality of public and private hospitals in urban areas of low and middle-income countries to develop a digital platform for estimating travel time and distance to nearest and second nearest private or public hospitals with capacity to provide emergency obstetric care at different times of the day.
“The resulting analysis and digital platform, which the team will build together with Google, will provide the first comprehensive understanding of how long it takes women to reach their nearest hospital with the necessary facilities at any time of the day.
“It will be delivered in three phases. Phase 1, pilot phase, will focus on urban areas in Nigeria. Phase II will then move across sub-Saharan Africa and Phase III will shift to Southeast Asia and Latin America.”
Also quoting Banke-Thomas, Greenwich University statement adds, “The opportunity that Google has provided to scale up this very important work has really humbled me. As researchers, we are constantly thinking ‘how do we solve the big problems’. However, big problems need big fixers and having the backing of Google to do this along with the phenomenal team that I work with, I am confident that together we can achieve big things.”
Banke-Thomas graduated from the Lagos State University with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 2009.
He served as Medical House Officer with the Nigerian Air Force in Abuja, from 2009 to 2010.
He thereafter worked as Project Officer, Global Fund Malaria/Maternal, Child and Reproductive Health with the Society for Family Health, Abuja, between 2010 and 2011.
He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
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