LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Monday said it has launched a new toll-free emergency line, alongside its partners, in Tanzania as part of an 'ambulance taxi' service for pregnant women.
The company said that hundreds of high-risk pregnant women in an area of Tanzania around "the size of Belgium" are not surviving pregnancy or losing their babies as there is no means of getting them to hospital.
The Vodafone Foundation, along with Pathfinder International, Touch Foundation and the US Agency for International Development, has launched a new toll-free emergency line equivalent to the 999 number in the UK, through which a network of taxis will respond to emergency calls.
Once women arrive at hospital, the emergency taxi drivers are then paid using Vodafone's mobile payment service, M-Pesa.
"Our maternal health programme is another example of the transformative power of technology. Since 2010, our 'text to treatment' programme has benefitted more than 3,000 women living with debilitating maternal condition obstetric fistula. Now, this pioneering new service will provide a much-needed lifeline for thousands of high-risk pregnant women in Tanzania without access to emergency healthcare," said Vodafone Foundation Director Andrew Dunnett in a statement.
Shares in Vodafone were down 1.1% at 218.90 pence Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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