Knowledge Exchange Fund at Universität Hamburg—University of ExcellenceDigital Tools to Improve Maternal Health in Ethiopia

18 December 2025, by Christina Krätzig

Photo: CC0

Many support services are hardly accessible to African women and girls with disabilities.

In Ethiopia, an estimated 400 out of every 100,000 women die during pregnancy, childbirth, or in the puerperium. Thus, maternal mortality is more than 150 times higher than in Germany. A knowledge exchange project at the University of Hamburg now aims to provide information on health, hygiene, and nutrition, especially for expectant mothers with disabilities.

In the remote villages of Ethiopia’s rural regions, women with disabilities who get pregnant face a variety of problems. Travel distances to doctors or maternity clinics are often long, impassable, and almost impossible to manage with public transportation. In the East African country, which is shaken by regional conflicts, traveling is dangerous and many existing aid services are not adapted to the needs of people with disabilities. As a result, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 pregnant girls and women with disabilities in Ethiopia hardly know what to expect during pregnancy and receive no help in the event of complications.

“A person’s disability should not result in being denied help. Research shows, however, that girls and women with disabilities have below-average reading skills and are therefore often unable to take advantage of existing support offers,” says Dr. Larissa Gebken from the University of Hamburg. With funding from the University of Hamburg’s Knowledge Exchange Fund and in collaboration with researchers from the Addis Ababa University, the research associate—who is a member of Prof. Laura Marie Edinger-Schons’ team—wants to set up a digital platform with information related to pregnancy and birth that can also be accessed by women with visual or hearing impairments. 

“The problems we are facing are huge,” says Gebken. “Many women in rural areas do not own any mobile devices. The grid itself is just as unreliable as the power supply. Also, information must be available in many different languages, as over 80 languages are spoken in Ethiopia.”

Gebken received €30,000 from the University of Hamburg’s Knowledge Exchange Fund to get her project off the ground. One of the first steps is to clarify whether a digital platform is the right tool. Another option are lower-threshold technologies that work more like small radios, whose content can be played over and over again. In addition, contacts must be established with local stakeholders, including NGOs already working in the country, public health offices, traditional midwives, and the affected families.  

As a socioeconomics researcher with a doctorate in informatics, Gebken has already gained experience with e-learning platforms and is convinced that digital tools hold potential for social change. At the same time, she is also aware that every target group is different and that existing concepts cannot simply be repurposed. She has high hopes for her newly assembled project team, which she visited last spring. Gebken is prepared to readapt her initial ideas until she can reach her target group without fail to make the lives of Ethiopian mothers with disabilities a little safer in future.

The University of Hamburg’s Knowledge Exchange Fund is financed through the Excellence Initiative of the Federal and State Governments.