AHealth

Our solutions will use currently available mental healthcare solutions such as chatbots to tackle less severe cases but for more severe cases, we will offer chat sessions with mental health experts who can use local languages. Our differentiation from other solutions is that we will be much cheaper so that rural and underprivileged population in Myanmar firstly, and later, population in other Southeast Asian countries can have access to our services; importantly, our interactions with our customers will be in local languages so that messages will not be lost in translation and customers can focus on solving their mental health issues without having to worry about language barriers. 

There are already mental health apps and platforms but they are expensive with prices that are out of reach of people with financial difficulties especially in developing countries. Research shows that 85% of people around the world with mental disorders don't receive the treatment they need; one out of five suffer from mental illness every year. In rural areas that occupy most of Myanmar, mental illness is not even recognized as an illness. We are in dire need to provide mental healthcare to millions who are experiencing mental illness but have no where and no one to turn to. More than 80% of the population in Myanmar now have access to mobile phones. We plan to offer mobile friendly services to help the ignored population in Myanmar suffering from mental illnesses. They will be able to access help at their fingertips without having to leave their homes and work. We plan to expand to other Southeast Asian countries where users will be able to use our services in their own local languages and speak with their local mental healthcare specialists. 

References: 

1) https://bit.ly/2XE62MM; 2) https://bit.ly/31XO7zX; 3) https://bit.ly/2xn4urz

Mental health issues are highly stigmatized, ignored, and discouraged to talk about even with friends. We will start our project in Myanmar (which has a population of 54 million people and at least 3 million are suffering from mental health issues) where mental health assistance is non-existent and stigmatized; many of these people live on income of US$125 or less per month which means they are not able to use currently available resources that charges about US$150 per session. We plan to charge 2% to 5% of their disposable income to use our services. 

We will not only serve Myanmar people living in Myanmar who cannot afford expensive services and cannot understand foreign languages, but we will also make sure that Myanmar people living around the world with limited English skills will be able to access our services. The people who need our help the most are the ones with no good education and who don't understand the languages that are being offered on currently available services. We plan to expand to other Southeast Asian countries (which has a population of about 670 million people and at least 30 million are suffering from mental health issues but have no one to turn to as of now). 

1. We are committed to solving mental health issues for low income individuals in developing countries, starting with Myanmar. 

2. We will have trusted chat platforms run by trained AI chatbots as well as by certified medical professionals who will be available from mobile phones and internet for our users. 

3. We will provide a less expensive platform that is available in local languages so that we can reach as many people as possible who currently have no access at all. If successful in Myanmar and neighbouring countries, we will expand to other developing countries and offer high quality but low cost services in local languages. 

4. In our product line in later phases, we plan to gamify some of our product offerings that people can play either as a long-term cure option or to quickly solve bouts of anxiety and depression. 

We have mental health issues in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries that are not addressed at all—in this sense, what we are doing in Myanmar is innovative for the users we are targeting. We will use approaches that will be the first in Myanmar such as: 

1) AI-powered chatbot: Being able to access our 24/7 chatbot and to be able to offer mental healthcare services online will encourage people to open up and talk how they feel. It would be the first online mental healthcare service in Myanmar that will become one of the places to release their stress and in addition, can save lives. We will deliver step-by-step instructions, computerized cognitive behavioral therapy and exercises. 

2)  Data analysis: With the words our users use during chatting and recording as a journal, we can track their data and how regularly they are feeling emotions that we need to address. Currently, there is no reliable data available regarding mental health. The data that we receive from our users will enable us to offer the best possible solutions to address their needs. 

3) Mood tracker: The additional feature will be the mood tracker function in which, the users will also be able to submit and rate their moods daily and track it weekly, monthly and yearly. This will also offer us time-sensitive information so that we can rule out the most possible solutions and provide different types of services for a spectrum of cases.

We must use technology for our business to be successful. To start, our AI Chatbot Application will answer all the questions and assist those who needs mental health. We will be building an all-in-one mental health service including an application where users can chat 24/7 and ask any questions related to their anxiety, daily life, stress to chatbot where, chatbot also ask them questions such as "How are you today?" as a family member, starting a friendly conversation where we monitor and advise mindful steps to become healthier lifestyle. For more severe cases we will have certified mental health professionals to care for our customers some of whom will need one-on-one consultation. We will use machine learning, and other AI technology to track words and moods of people so that we can prevent extreme cases before its too late and refer them to mental health experts who can be accessed via mobile phones and mobile internet. All our solutions will be offered in local languages to reach the maximum number of cases and across economic backgrounds. 

We are willing to pivot our solution based on responses from the customers. Even though there are internationally available services such as betterhelp, and so on, they are not localized to cater to the real local needs.

1) There is no solution in Myanmar for people with low and middle-income peoples who are in the need of mental health; 2) We have more than 90% mobile coverage within the country and easily accessible to the internet; 3) Our service will be low-cost, affordable, and available in local languages.

Output: Address unaddressed mental health issues in cities and rural areas of Myanmar to help improve and support local peoples who in turn will be able to contribute more to develop Myanmar. At the least, given our advocacy work that mental health is a legitimate illness, we hope to have more patients who will be more willing to seek help. 

We do not have any customers yet as we are at ideation stage. Within one year, we are targeting 1,000 users and next five years:

1) In Myanmar, 10% of the population in Myanmar: 5 million users

2) In Thailand, 10% of the population in Thailand: 7 million users

3) In Singapore, 30% of the population in Singapore: 1.8 million users. In total, in the next five years, we plan to help 13.8 million individuals with our services.

In Myanmar, mental health is a major issue affecting most people who we need to be contributing citizens for our country, and currently we don't have effective services at all; even the number of psychiatrists who are in the country of 54 million people, we can count with our ten fingers. 

Within next year, we plan to have finished awareness and advocacy trainings in all states and divisions in Myanmar. We also plan to get active users who can share their experience using our services with their family and friends.

Within the next five years, we plan to have users who trust our services and turn to us for help every time they need help. Our goal is to support minimum 13.8 million low and middle-income individuals in Myanmar and Southeast Asia to get help with their mental health issues so that they can have healthier lifestyle. 

Next year: 

1) Cultural stigma: we need to raise awareness around the country to educate people the existence and importance of mental illnesses and to let them know that solutions are available. 

3) Technical: it may take time to develop machine learning and artificial intelligence that can give more accurate recommendations. 

Next five years: 

1) Competition: when we expand to other countries, we may face competitions with other Southeast Asian and international platforms. 

2) Financial profitability and sustainability: Because we are trying a completely new market and introducing mental health services via technology (when people still don't recognize the existence of it), we are aware that it may take more time than planned to break-even and sustain our business. 

1) Financial: We are applying funding from different sources, locally and internationally in the first year. We plan to break-even within two years via having patients who will buy our services on a monthly subscription basis. We plan to use all our profits within the first three years to expand our services and to expand to other countries. We will also work with other organizations and companies by winning package deals, for instance, by having their employees to use our services.

2) Cultural stigma: We will be holding in-person meetings, conferences, and collaborate with mental health professionals and other influential people as first step toward becoming a trusted consultation platform in Myanmar and in other Southeast Asian countries. 

3) Technical: We plan to collaborate with international experts to advise us to improve our machine learning and other technological capabilities. 

In the next five years: 

1) Competition: We actually welcome competition because our goal is to be able to help as many people as possible. We sincerely hope that we can collaborate with different partners and players and be able to offer the best services to our patients.  

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We have four staff members now, including two medical doctors. We plan to expand rapidly with more funding and investment. 

Two of us have successfully started organizations and companies; we know how to start and grow a company. The other two (doctors) bring subject matter expertise that the other two lack. 

• For education materials, Center for Executive Education - Southeast Asia (CEESEA), CCEducare
• For online media, Millennials Talk
• Media collaborators - Myanmar International TV
• Myanmar Medical Association

We plan to get things off the ground through donations and competitions such as MIT Solve to fund our marketing efforts to get customers. We plan to break-even within two years via having patients who will buy our services on a monthly subscription basis. We will charge our customers just enough to cover expenses and for marketing efforts. Only once we have had enough traction over a couple of years, we plan to charge closer to market rates so that we make enough profit for regional expansion. We will also work with other organizations and companies by winning package deals, for instance, by having their employees to use our services.

In Year 1, we expect a grand total sales of $ 28,638,000

1. From Chatbot: 

Total sales; 5,000,000 (Myanmar) + 7,000,000 (Thailand) + 13,800,000 (Singapore) * $1 = $25,800,000 

II. From calls (for moderate cases): 

We will charge 50%  of the consultation fees from the medical consultants. One session will cost $ 10.

Total; (50,000 (Myanmar) + 70,000 (Thailand) + 138,000 (Singapore)) x $10 x 50% =  $ 1,290,000

III. From partnerships with hospitals: 

In-person (for severe cases) we will get 30% of the consultation fees from the in-person consultation sessions. One session will cost $20.

Total;  (50,000 (Myanmar) +  70,000 (Thailand) + 138,000 (Singapore)) x $20 x 30% = $ 1,548,000

We are applying to Solve because we see this as a launch pad to quickly get us off the ground and put us in front of investors and experts who have not paid much attention to mental health issues in Myanmar and in other Southeast Asian countries. As the U.S. is now focusing more on Southeast Asia, we would like to be one of the main contact points when it comes to entrepreneurship and solving problems that not many are solving. 

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1) Private clinics and hospitals

2) Myanmar Psychological Association, Myanmar Medical Association, Southeast Asia Medical Association

3) Telecommunications

4) Media

5) Banks

1) AI-powered chatbot: Being able to access our 24/7 chatbot and to be able to offer mental healthcare services online for people in Myanmar would be the first in Myanmar to save millions of lives. We will deliver step-by-step instructions, computerized cognitive behavioral therapy, related brain lessons and exercises. 

2)  Data analysis: With the words our users use during chatting, we can track their data and how regularly they are feeling emotions that we need to address. The data that we receive from our users will enable us to offer the best possible solutions to address their needs. 

3) Mood tracker: The additional feature will be the mood tracker function in which, the users will also be able to submit and rate their moods daily and track it weekly, monthly and yearly. The moods can be 'happy' 'sad' 'angry' 'awful' status will be shown in graphs and charts. This will also offer us time-sensitive information so that we can rule out the most possible solutions and provide different types of services for a spectrum of cases.

Mental health issues often cause suicides, family breakdowns, career destructions, etc., that ultimately hurt the fabric of the country. However, very few people are paying attention to mental-related issues. We want to work on it to make sure that fewer people are left unheard and they can be powerful contributors in Myanmar and in the rest of Southeast Asia.  

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Women are often treated as second class citizens in Myanmar which is a male-dominated society. Few help is given to women who are in need of mental health services especially when women are HIV/AIDS patients, victims and survivors of domestic violence, physical and psychological abuse, self-abortion, undesired and forced marriage, and single moms.

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Our founding team members will participate in social media campaigns, events, conferences, programs that empower and educate women to raise their voices especially mental health which is currently rarely discussed or not discussed at all.