Community Emergency Transport Systems: Using transport to improve access to health services in rural Madagascar

To reduce maternal and neonatal deaths, timely access to skilled care before, during, and after pregnancy is critical. Delays in
accessing quality care are a key contributor to maternal and neonatal mortality. Inadequate access to transport is one of the three main delays in accessing health services and can worsen the clinical severity of cases, particularly where complications exist.

Implementing transport strategies alongside other interventions may contribute up to an 80 percent reduction in maternal deaths.This technical brief examines how the MAHEFA project maximized the potential for communities to develop and manage their own emergency transport systems (ETS) that bridge the gap between the community and the health facility. The approach helped increase access and enable government health services to draw on community resources to increase service demand. JSI / USAID | CBIHP Project. 2016.