Across sub-Saharan Africa, ultrasound devices are not well known, especially amongst women living in rural areas, who make up about 58% of the total area. Several research papers have found that most women in these areas go through pregnancy without receiving ultrasound examinations.
Butterfly Network is working to change the narrative for some of these women.
In what they’re calling “largest global medical device distribution ever”, the Network is launching a new handheld ultrasound device: the Butterfly iQ+ device.
This Tuesday, September 20, it will bring its handheld, whole-body ultrasound probe technology to Kenya to advance maternal and foetal health as part of a $5 million grant from the Gates Foundation.
Butterfly will give 500 Butterfly iQ+ devices to healthcare practitioners in Nairobi, Kenya, at a ceremony at Kenyatta University which will feature leaders from Butterfly, Kenyatta University and the Global Ultrasound Institute.
Medical practitioners will receive the device and be trained in its use, and local women from the community will have the opportunity to see their unborn child for the first time.
