According to WHO (2015), 99% of maternal deaths occur in the global south. This is mainly due to lack of antenatal care since pregnant women living in remote areas have limited access to healthcare facilities. Local healthcare centers cannot afford expensive ultrasound devices, and traveling long distances to big hospitals in urban areas is infeasible to pregnant women due to transportation costs and health issues.

SONON, a wireless mobiles ultrasound device created by Healcerion, is designed to be the affordable and accessible option for people living in the remote areas of the global south. Its portability and mobile technology allow health workers to monitor ultrasound scans through Android and iOS tablets. This innovative technology, 100 times lighter and 16 times cheaper than former ultrasound devices, enables healthcare facilities in remote areas to identify women at risk of pregnancy complications.

However, the usage rate of SONON devices in the global souths is 35 times lower than in the developed countries. Therefore, raising awareness of the importance of using SONON for pregnant women living in remote areas in order to reduce the maternal mortality rate was seen as a vital and urgent mission.

Through the voice of the local health workers, we have heard that the usage rate of SONON is still severely low in the global south even though the groundbreaking device has come upon us. The health workers, who are the blind spot of the medical environment, stated that the expensive cost of the device and its difficult usage serve as high barriers for the initial purchase even when it is 16 times cheaper than the hospital-based ultrasound device. In order to eliminate the initial purchase barrier and encourage ultrasound testing, Healcerion came up with a solution called ‘Prepaid’ system. Through this solution, Healcerion freely provides the device to health workers and allows them to purchase the ultrasound vouchers at local markets. This allows them to conveniently use SONON and test the patients. ‘Prepaid’ system allows pregnant women in the global south to receive medical treatments consistently while maintaining the minimum cost.

SONON, a portable ultrasound device, can share the essential values of universal humanity by demonstrating new life within a mother’s womb must be valued no matter the mother’s socioeconomic status. This innovative device made it possible for every people across the world to have access to receive personal medical care of ultrasound.

However, the usage of the SONON in the global south makes up less than 10% of the developed countries’ usage because of its initial purchase cost. Thus, in order to increase the SONON usage in the global south, we introduced a ‘Prepaid’ system where we freely provide the device and health workers only need to pay for each one-time fee by purchasing a voucher in local groceries. This system makes it possible for health workers to rent SONON free-of-charge from the initial stages and easily give a point-of-care to pregnant women in remote areas.

This innovative technology drew the Korean government’s attention and was officially designated a ‘Creative Technology Solution’ by KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency). Furthermore, SONON is gradually being acquired by health facilities in the global south with the aim of using the device to help reduce the maternal mortality rate.

As of now, SONON has come into wide use in 40 countries including 20 countries from the global south and supplied 20 commune Health Center in Vietnam with KOICA. Through UNOPS(United Nations Office for Project Service), 14 SONON devices were supplied in Ghana already and Healcerion set a goal to supply SONON devices in the global south which total 2,500 until 2020. This is approximately 7.5 times more than today’s supplies. Healcerion consistently contacted various NGO’s in the whole world just like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The cultural environment in the global south is far less advanced than the developed countries. Health workers, who are the blind spot of the remote area, stated that expensive cost serves as a barrier in using SONON even when it is 16 times cheaper than the hospital-based ultrasound devices. This is why we created and developed ‘Prepaid’ system appropriate for the global south.

Free provision of the device itself while encouraging the purchase of voucher at local grocery stores is an innovative strategy that reflects the local culture of the health workers. Furthermore, this provides pregnant women in remote area more opportunities to meet local health workers who are well-educated from Healcerion. The mothers could also see their baby inside the mother’s womb with the SONON’s help. One small voucher could make all of these changes, and this system will make more people live a higher quality of life.