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470,000 babies die each year in Africa on the day they are born. This figure increases to 1 million deaths within the first 28 days. The LIFE project by Mike English and his team directly addresses this avoidable tragedy by using low-cost smartphones to give as many healthcare workers as possible the knowledge they need to provide life-saving treatment to mothers and newborns.

470,000 babies die each year in Africa on the day they are born. This figure increases to 1 million deaths within the first 28 days. The LIFE project by Mike English and his team directly addresses this avoidable tragedy by using low-cost smartphones to give as many healthcare workers as possible the knowledge they need to provide life-saving treatment to mothers and newborns. 

Help us raise £100,000 to build the LIFE-changing game.

LIFE is a scenario-based mobile gaming platform that will teach healthcare workers to identify and manage medical emergencies, using game-like training techniques to reinforce the key steps that need to be performed for a healthcare worker to save the life of a newborn baby in distress.

The LIFE project is both innovative and transformative. It shows the way we should think about and take advantage of the changing technological landscape in Africa”

Dr Wilson Were

World Health Organisation’s Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over two thirds of new-born deaths in Africa could be avoided by delivering essential interventions including emergency care effectively. With face-to-face training we have reached only a tiny proportion of the 2.5 million African healthcare workers. We need a system that enables everyone to access and learn the essential steps to save babies in an emergency. This is what we will achieve with our LIFE platform. We will make it available so that healthcare workers with a basic smartphone can download the game and learn or revise essential knowledge regularly. 

By using the LIFE game, African healthcare workers in even the remotest settings will be trained so that their first instinct is to act correctly. The game will teach them the latest WHO guidelines, and can also be linked to professional accreditation, with built-in reminders to stay up-to-date and refresh what has been learned.

Please help us to raise £100,000 to build and test 3D and virtual reality versions of the game. This game will help to save lives, and we would love for you to take a part in this.

The full story is available on the OxReach website