Hi lovely friends, family, colleagues. Thanks for visiting my fundraising page.

On 3rd January 2019 I completed my mission to hike up the biggest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. It was an 8 day trek to reach the 5,900m peak (and get back down again), demanding high physical fitness, camping and walking at high altitude. Read more and see highlights below.

I'm excited to be raising money for my amazing friend Dr Caroline Crehan's award winning project and not-for-profit organisation, NeoTree. Watch this short video, visit the NeoTree website, or continue reading to learn more.

https://vimeo.com/200483812

http://www.neotree.org/

In September I was fortunate to visit Zomba Hospital in Malawi, with Caroline and project manager Tim, where the NeoTree began. I can see the huge potential of the NeoTree, helped by your donations, including developing the app into a daily electronic medical record for new born babies and expanding into two hospitals in Zimbabwe.

Your money will go a long way to support the vital activities of the NeoTree project:

- £35 will pay to run NeoTree for 1 day in Malawi

- £52 will pay to run NeoTree for 1 day in Zimbabwe

- £160 will pay for 1 day of software development

Thanks for all your support with my expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro for this great cause.

Jessica

Read more...

Despite experiencing altitude sickness in the earlier days of the trek, as well as high winds and freezing conditions on summit day, I made it to the top and back in one piece. The views from Uhuru peak and along the trek were extremely rewarding.

I was pretty much the tortoise of the group, at the back going 'pole pole' (slowly) the whole way to deal with the impacts of altitude. I think I may have set a world record in being the slowest on summit day!: 10.5 hours to get to the summit (starting at midnight), around 15 minutes to enjoy the peak, 4.5 hours back down to camp for food, and another 3 hours of trekking the same day to reach the next camp for final night's sleep on the mountain. So probably the most exhausting day I've ever experienced, with total 18 hours of hiking in harsh conditions.

Thanks so much to the trek organisers Exodus, the African Walking Company guides, porters, and supporting crew for making the adventure possible. In particular thanks to my lead guide JT for his motivation, guidance and upbeat singing!, using his experience to deal with all sorts of difficulties that arose. Thanks to the gang: Fiona B, Susanna, Fiona H-K and Richard, for keeping spirits high and making the long journey together with me.

The NeoTree is an mHealth solution to reduce newborn deaths in low-income countries.

The problem: 2.8 million newborns die every year worldwide. 70% of these lives could be saved if evidence-based interventions were successfully implemented. Malawi has one of the poorest quality health care systems (ranking 185th out of 190th globally), a high newborn mortality rate of 29 per 1000 live births, and the highest rate of preterm births in the world. Leaders in newborn health have highlighted gaps in quality of newborn care in hospitals, where 89% of Malawian women now deliver. Identified gaps include lack of trained newborn health care workers (HCWs) and data information systems.

The solution: The NeoTree application. In partnership with frontline HCWs, and key stakeholders, using modern agile software development techniques we are developing The NeoTree app to improve quality of newborn care in resource-poor settings. It will be used on low-cost android tablets or phone devices at the hospital bedside by HCWs with a range of skills (primarily nurses) supporting their care and treatment of sick newborns. The app offers an integrated platform for 3 functions:

> An Immediate digital data collection system for clinical and demographic newborn data linked with the Malawi District Health Information System.

> A newborn diagnostic and management decision tool according to an algorithm based on local evidence-based guidelines and expert review.

> A newborn health education program linked with the clinical decision tool.

Project objectives: The main outcomes we hope to achieve with The NeoTree are to improve quality of care and reduce newborn deaths. Our vision is for the NeoTree to be used by all types of HCW in newborn facilities across low-income countries. With this in mind we have two test sites: Malawi and Zimbabwe. Initial phases of development have focused on Malawi due to factors such as high rates of facility births, a strong commitment from the Ministry of Health to improve quality of care and an estimated potential for The NeoTree to reduce neonatal mortality by up to 40%.

Currently the project is in phase 4 (see overview). In March 2017 we completed phase 3 proving feasibility, acceptability and high usability of the beta version in a pilot study in Zomba central hospital, Malawi. Expert review of the NeoTree algorithm with experts around the world is being started and in September 2018 we will commence a validation study of the diagnostic algorithm over a 6-month period in Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe. Phase 4 will also include significant collaborative software development of the beta app and produce a final release candidate. Further work focusing particularly on infection control in a second site, Zimbabwe will also progress simultaneously. Our end goal in phase 5 is to conduct a trial to evaluate the effect of the NeoTree release candidate on newborn case fatality rate in 3 randomly selected facilities compared to 3 control hospitals.