The university offers flexible courses in an effort to encourage nurses to complete further training — while not taking staff away from the wards — to address the midwife shortage. According to the Midwives Association of Kenya, of the country’s 25,000 nurses, only 2,000 are currently trained as midwives. Maithya said technology like Safe Delivery has made it easier for nurses to access education on maternal care.

“We've infused technology and this has made it easier to train, to target more numbers, and also made it easier for nurses, midwives, and other health workers to access quality education because, using technology, you can update their training content more easily,” said Maithya.

“You can also get in touch with a student wherever they are in real time, and that really improves the quality of training.”

In the university’s training laboratory — flanked by dummy patients lying glass-eyed on gurneys and surrounded by an array of medical supplies — Maithya and her team of trainees performed a mock delivery following the app’s instructions. As the baby’s head began to appear between the dummy’s cervix, the team was guided on what to do next with a visual and audio tutorial. While this delivery was a straightforward procedure, Maithya said the tool has answers for those more complex situations — cesareans, postpartum hemorrhaging, and an unresponsive newborn.