99% of maternal deaths occur in the global south due to lack of antenatal care, since pregnant women living in remote areas have limited access to healthcare facilities.

To help reduce the maternal mortality rate, Healcerion created 'SONON', a mobile ultrasound device that can be controlled remotely via smartphone. However, the usage rate of SONON is still severely low in the global south.

According to the research, the health workers in the global south stated that SONON’s expensive cost serves as the high purchase barrier, even though it is more than ten times cheaper than the ultrasound scanner used in hospitals. To lower the barrier, and increase SONON’s usage, Healcerion introduced the innovative solution, the ‘Prepaid system’, in which it rents out SONON free-of-charge, and lets the health workers pay for the voucher based on their usage.

The ‘Prepaid system’ is simple yet well designed. The health workers purchase the vouchers with QR codes based on their needs. The ultrasound diagnostic mobile application scans the balance on the voucher, then lets the consumers use SONON according to their purchased usage time. The ultrasound diagnosis is easily carried out on smartphone/tablet through touch screen interface technology. Since the consumers, who use SONON and its ‘Prepaid system’, need basic knowledge of anatomy, instruction, and experience, Healcerion aims to help establish local communities to operate the system themselves by educating the health workers with appropriate knowledge and instruction manual.

Today, SONON has come into wide use in 40 countries including 20 countries from the global south. It is supplied in 20 commune Health Centers in Vietnam with KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency). Through UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Service), 14 SONON devices were supplied in Ghana. SONON’s innovative technology drew the Korean government’s attention and was officially designated as the ‘Creative Technology Solution’ by KOICA. BY 2020, 2,500 SONON devices will be made available in more than 59 countries from the global south. This is approximately 7.5 times more than today’s supplies. Healcerion consistently contacted various NGO’s in the whole world, just like what Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation did. If the health facility delivery were to be more encouraged as Healcerion’s ‘Prepaid system’ allows wider distribution of SONON, the maternal mortality rate in the global south would be expected to decrease by more than 10%.