Kybele, Inc.

11/03/2026

Hey, Winston-Salem/Piedmont Triad Friends.... We'd love the opportunity to catch up with you at the local pub.

You are personally invited to join us for drinks and conversation with Medge Owen and Tom Newton-Lewis on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12 in WINSTON-SALEM.

As a supporter of Kybele's work, we consider you part of our team, and with that we would love the opportunity to catch up, share a drink, and fill you in on all that has been happening this past year with Kybele's programs, initiatives, and adventures.

These days, it is a rare opportunity to sit down and catch up with friends - so we are inviting you to do just that...In other words, we are calling you to join a Kybele "Team Huddle" - an informal gathering at WEST SALEM PUBLIC HOUSE starting at 5:30PM.

Come after work. Come as you are. Come say hello.
Let us know if you can make it: https://conta.cc/4iBguvW

10/29/2026

This month we want to highlight and honor Dr. Amanua Chinbuah, Kybele Ghana's Country Director.

Dr. Amanua drives our efforts to strengthen childbirth care for mothers and babies across the country. She combines advanced clinical expertise, a sensitive understanding of the lived realities of health workers across the system, and deep experience of policy reform processes: a unique combination that ensures Kybele's interventions are impactful, scalable, and sustainable.

A renowned and respectful physician, epidemiologist, and a public-health specialist with 30+ year’ experience, Dr. Amanua spent approximately 20 years with the Ghana Health Service and five years as a Senior Newborn Care Technical Advisor at PATH before joining Kybele. She holds an MBChB and MPH from the University of Ghana, an MSc in Health Sciences/Epidemiology from Erasmus University, and a PhD from the University of Amsterdam.

She is a deeply humble, committed, and inspiring leader and we are proud to work with her.

Learn more about Kybele at www.kybeleworldwide.org

10/19/2026

What does it take to scale a life-saving intervention — and sustain its impact across an entire health system?

Ghana’s experience with OTIP offers important lessons.

In a recent Thrive in Conversation, Robert Asambobillah of Kybele Ghana and Dr. Chris Fofie of Ghana Health Service share lessons from Ghana’s experience scaling Kybele’s Obstetric Triage Implementation Package (OTIP), alongside research that helps explain what makes implementation effective. The conversation reflects the value of collaboration between Ghanaian health professionals, health system leaders, and research partners, including Britta Augsburg and colleagues at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Developed in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, OTIP is a midwife-led approach that helps maternity teams identify women at risk of complicated births and prioritize timely care. IFS’s causal impact evaluation of OTIP showed a 60% reduction in maternal mortality when scaled to 76 facilities.

The conversation explores not only whether OTIP works, but how it can be scaled effectively.

Ghana’s experience offers something valuable to the global maternal health community: not simply an intervention to replicate, but practical knowledge from Ghanaian health professionals and health system leaders about what it takes to make effective care part of routine practice at scale.

At Kybele, we believe the next chapter depends on building on that leadership — deepening implementation and learning in Ghana, strengthening the evidence for sustained impact, and partnering with other countries to adapt and scale proven approaches.

We are grateful to Robert, Chris, and the wider Kybele Ghana team; the Ghana Health Service; and Britta and our research partners at IFS for helping advance this important work.

🎥 Watch the conversation and explore the lessons from Ghana:
https://thrivechildevidence.org/events/thrive-in-conversation-scaling-up-hospital-based-maternal-health-intervention-ghana-lessons-midwife-champions/

Ghana has pioneered the use of an Obstetric Triage Implementation Package (OTIP) with midwives in hospitals across the country. Findings from a large-scale study have shown impressive results: a randomised controlled trial across a subset of hospitals included in Ghana’s national rollout provided ...

09/22/2026

Kybele is pleased to share our most recent publication from the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia.

A decade of global health partnership to advance obstetric anesthesia practices in the Balkans: a retrospective analysis of neuraxial anesthesia and analgesia use at a major teaching hospital in Serbia (2012-2025).

READ:https://kybeleworldwide.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/A-decade-of-global-health-partnership-to-advance-o.pdf

Over a decade of partnership, education, and change in obstetric anesthesia in Serbia and the Balkans has resulted in 13.8% → 79.9% use of neuraxial anesthesia for cesarean delivery at UCCV, 2011–2025.

Kybele is grateful to everyone who made this journey possible, especially in-country champion, Dr. Borislava Pujic and Kybele Team Leader, Dr. Ivan Velickovic for their tireless effort.

The work continues.



Photo: Kybele founder Dr. Medge Owen (left) presents thank you recognition to Dr. Borislava Pujic (right).

08/25/2026

Please join Kybele for the latest “Thrive in Conversation” Zoom session on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 at 14:00 GMT (9:00 a.m. EDT in the U.S.) for an engaging discussion on the Obstetric Triage Implementation Package (OTIP) as developed in the partnership between the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Kybele Worldwide.

REGISTER HERE:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7917873029407/WN_w7_vFWLgRzCvuDIKGjMihw

We will hear insights from the following speakers:

• BRITTA AUGSBURG
Associate Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

• ROBERT ASAMBOBILLAH
Program Manager – OTIP, Kybele Ghana

• DR. CHRIS FOFIE
Deputy Director, GHS Family Health Division

• BET CAEYERS – Thrive Research Director

Learn more about a recent IFS study on the OTIP protocol, including the benefits of appointing midwife Champions through peer selection, and the GHS’ experience of OTIP, including the development process and the partnership with Kybele.

This webinar will be hosted by Bet Caeyers as part of the Thrive in Conversation series, where the Thrive team hosts researchers, policymakers and early childhood development practitioners to discuss the successful scaling of early childhood development programs in low-and-middle-income countries.

06/04/2026

Update on the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Project for maternal and newborn health in Mozambique….

This Community Health Worker-led collaborative effort between Kybele, and our partners Ekjut India (Mozambique) and University College of London is starting to take shape as seen here in recent photos from the training team.

The first PLA meeting took place under a cashew tree in the Nanlepa community with the Namaita administrative unit.

The PLA approach brings communities together to identify local challenges around pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care and to design practical solutions that work within their own context.

Kybele is honored to work alongside these outstanding partners and the Government of Mozambique to support stronger systems of care for mothers and babies.

UCL

05/12/2026

Our sincere thanks to the F.M. Kirby Impact Prize team, Duke CASE, and the selection committee for recognizing the importance of strengthening health systems and scaling practical solutions that save the lives of mothers and babies. We are honored to be named one of the four finalists for the 2026 F.M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact!
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From the CASE at Duke University LinkedIn Page:

🌍 2026 Kirby Impact Prize Finalist Spotlight: Kybele Worldwide
We’re excited to highlight Kybele Worldwide—an organization demonstrating what it looks like to scale simple, life-saving innovation within public health systems.

Why we’re excited about Kybele’s scaling potential:
• Co-designed with government. In partnership with the Ghana Health Service, Kybele developed and scaled a streamlined obstetric triage system (OTIP) that reduces maternal and neonatal mortality by addressing delays in hospital assessment and treatment.
• Simple, low-cost, and replicable. OTIP builds on existing hospital infrastructure—midwifery staff, physical space, and workflows—making it both practical and highly scalable across resource-constrained settings.
• Proven, life-saving results. Rigorous studies show ~48% reductions in maternal mortality and ~52% reductions in intrapartum stillbirths in hospitals implementing the model.
• Growing global demand. Health systems in multiple countries are now engaging Kybele to adapt and implement OTIP in their own contexts.
Kybele’s work is a powerful reminder: transformative impact doesn’t always require complex solutions—just the right ones, implemented well.

F. M. Kirby Foundation, Inc.

04/15/2026

We were honored to participate in the IMNHC (International Maternal Newborn Health Conference) 2026 Participatory Learning Session in Nairobi Kenya, joining an incredible group of global partners working to improve maternal and newborn health.

Kybele had the opportunity to share our experience in Ghana—how system-based solutions like obstetric triage can move from innovation to national scale when they are co-designed with governments and embedded into routine care.

What made this session especially meaningful was the exchange. Together with colleagues from Mali, Nepal, and Kenya, we reflected on what it really takes to move from pilot to sustainable, government-led implementation—what works, what doesn’t, and what we’re still learning.

The energy in the room, the level of engagement, and the richness of the discussion were truly inspiring.

We’re grateful to Grand Challenges Canada and the IMNHC team for bringing this group together—and to our fellow speakers and participants for such thoughtful and honest conversations.

This is how progress happens: shared learning, strong partnerships, and a commitment to lasting impact.

03/08/2026

Kybele is proud to serve with and for amazing women around the globe. We salute you on International Women's Day.

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality.

IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific. IWD is a movement, powered by the collective efforts of all.

03/08/2026

Kybele has been on the MOVE....

This week, members of the Kybele team traveled to Mozambique to launch a new collaboration focused on improving maternal and newborn health at the community level.

Kybele Grants Manager, Erin Pfeiffer and Co-Executive Director for Business Operations and Strategic Growth, Tom Newton-Lewis joined partners from University College London, Ekjut (India), and N’weti (Mozambique) for a series of meetings with officials from the Mozambique Ministry of Health and technical partners in Maputo.

The visit marks the start of the Community Health Worker-Led Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Project for maternal and newborn health.

Following meetings in Maputo, the team traveled to Nampula Province to meet local health leaders, conduct site visits, and begin planning the implementation of the project with district and community stakeholders.

The PLA approach brings communities together—guided by trained community health workers—to identify local challenges around pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care, and to design practical solutions that work within their own context.

Kybele is honored to work alongside these outstanding partners and the Government of Mozambique to support stronger systems of care for mothers and babies.

More updates from Mozambique soon.

Ekjut India