PLAN International Senegal teaches maternal wellness using a board game called Wure, Were, Werle, aka The 3W Safe Motherhood Game. The game teaches various lessons in taking care of yourself during pregnancy and birth, as well as potential factors that could cause harm or death.

The initial plan and a description of the board game can be found in this 2001 Global Health report. This source indicates a mortality rate of 1,200 per 100,000, which is high.

I discovered the topic through this recent article, with pictures of people playing the game. They quote the same mortality rate as the previous source: 1,200 per 100,000, which would lead one to the conclusion that the game hasn’t effected much of a difference in the last ten years. However, the statistic in the latter article may be simply lifted from the previous source. Or, maybe this “recent” article was pulled from a 10 year old file of some kind.

UNICEF currently lists the mortality rate at 400 per 100,000. If even some of that improvement is due to the board game, it appears to have been a job well done.