Nightingale

According to the world health organization, 285 women die from preventable diseases related to pregnancy and childbirth every day all over Bangladesh. Most of it is due to a lack of proper information, quick service, and nearby healthcare facilities. The lack of women's healthcare leads to thousands of fatalities around the globe. Reasons such as social taboo, financial crisis and lack of proper knowledge deny women around the world a healthy life. On the other hand, a recently conducted study shows that 1 in 5 new specialist doctors are currently unemployed. Almost 12000 doctors are graduating from 83 medical colleges in Bangladesh each year. But only a handful of them turns out to be successful. So, we have two massive problems with one easy solution. We present to you the mobile application "Nightingale" which works as a link between doctors and female patients and solves both these problems at once.

In a country like Bangladesh, issues related to female health are often perceived as taboos. Topics like menstruation or pregnancy are seldom openly discussed. Women hesitate to visit doctors when they face pregnancy or menstruation-related problems. On the other hand, doctors who are eager to help these people can't properly reach them due to lack of efficient communication medium. The first problem mentioned affects almost every woman of Bangladesh to some extent. And the second problem mentioned is the common tale of every recently graduated student from several medical schools. 
All of these are problems faced not just by these individuals but by the vast majority of the world. According to the world health organization, 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day around the world. Most of it is due to a lack of proper information, quick service, and nearby healthcare facilities. On the other hand, a recently conducted study in Canada shows that 1 in 5 new specialist doctors are currently unemployed. Communication gap and social taboo are two contributing factors of this problem which relates to our solution. 

Our goal is to improve healthcare for women in Bangladesh and also bridge the gap between patients and doctors. We would love to encourage more women to connect with doctors regarding their menstruation or pregnancy problems and also to provide doctors with maximum technological guidance to reach maximum amount of female patients. Observing women all around us, it is easily understandable how difficult it is for any of them to reach doctors in case they face any difficulty regarding their periods or pregnancy. And young doctors face many difficulty reaching patients at the beginning of their career. They have to waste many years behind building social reputations. If we take them under a technological structure, they can efficiently reach patients and help them using their skills and knowledge. Our app makes it easy for women to reach doctors battling any hesitation they feel in these issues. It also makes it efficient and time-saving for doctors to connect to female patients who otherwise would not visit their chambers. 

Our solution is to build a mobile application named "Nightingale". We will be serving the female population of Bangladesh who face menstruation and pregnancy and we will be working with doctors, especially fresh graduate doctors. 

Technical details of our app are as given below: 

Basic Info

Project : Nightingale 

Platform : Android OS

Minimum SDK and Target Devices : 19 (Android 4.4 Kitkat) i.e App will run perfectly on 95.3% of Android devices.  

Contact : nightingaleee2018@gmail.com

Front End

All UI components (Layouts And Resources) designed using :

• XML (Extensible Markup Language) 

• Android Java 

Back End 

• -Online Realtime Database Support provided by Google Firebase (https://firebase.google.com/)

• -Device Storage Database Managed using SQLite database Management System  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQLite)

Our solution is unique mostly because we are targeting a problem sector that hasn't been properly addressed. We are aware that there are already many existing health-related apps and websites in our country. But none of them are working in a particular sector like us. Also, these are mostly based on urban people and as a result, a huge portion of our entire population is not assisted by it. Moreover, they are costly and not user-friendly. So from the perspective of Bangladesh, these apps/websites are not quite able to gain the trust of its users. People would rather wait for days to get a doctor's appointment, rather use these digital methods. What makes our app different than others is its user-friendly nature. We are providing Bengali blogs and articles so that even the poor farmer of a remote village can get help from it. Also, our target base is not only the urban people but the whole country, which is illustrated on other segments. We are also trying to provide the best service with the cheapest way possible. There are plenty of free segments in our app for a beginner to get accustomed to. Here, you can choose your doctor according to your health issue just like you would have done in real life. We are just easing the process digitally to minimize your labor. Another important aspect is that we are bringing in doctors and patients together digitally through our informative and professional segments.

According to a United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa) report disclosed in Dhaka recently, it is found that currently, 5,200 maternal deaths occur annually in the country making up eight percent of total deaths among women of reproductive age. 83,100 babies are stillborn and there are 76,000 neonatal deaths every year. Also, preliminary findings from the National Hygiene Assessment (NHA) – a countrywide survey on hygiene facilities and behaviors conducted by icddr,b – indicates that 57 % of adolescents and 65 % of adult women were not informed about menstruation before their first experience. Over 90 % of women and girls surveyed across households learned about menstruation from female relatives, which shows little presence of formal or verified information to help women understand this process better. The assessment found that most women and girls use old cloth to manage their menstrual bleeding. These stats prove that female health issue especially, pregnancy and menstruation is a major concern in Bangladesh. Therefore, to address the issue we have come up with our mobile application "Nightingale". The core target of our app is to spread valuable information about these health issues to the deprived women of Bangladesh. Furthermore, our app also connects these unprivileged women with young talented doctors around the country. And we are hopeful that with proper guidance and support, we can successfully address the problem mentioned above.

Necessary links are given below:

https://consult-magnum.com/2018/02/04/current-situation-of-menstrual-health-in-bangladesh/

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/10/28/5200-women-die-annually-due-pregnancy-childbirth-related-problems/ 

Our project is still in the testing period. For example, we distributed our beta app to some of our female classmates in our university to get suggestions for user preference & app developments. The number of our beta app users is 135 to 140 people right now. But as we are not serving anyone directly via our app, we have to say that the current number of people we're serving is zero.

We have a plan to finalize our app and launch it within the next three months. Our promotional activities have already started. To reach more people, we have plans to arrange campaigns to create social awareness about this new healthcare solution. So, hopefully we can estimate to serve around 50,000-1,00,000 people in the next one year.

To estimate for the next five years, we can take the ride sharing app "Pathao" for examples. Having been launched in 2016, Pathao currently has more than 1,000,000 users and 150,000 registered riders. We know our app is a very different one than Pathao. But we believe we can create a revolution in the female healthcare sector just like Pathao did in the transportation sector. So, we are hopeful to serve at least 1,000,000 people in the next five years.

Within the next year, our goal is quite simple. Right now, our most important target is to complete the piloting segment and finalize our app according to it. For that, we need to raise funds which we are working on. After finishing app development, our next goal is to launch the app with a bang! We are working on our promotional activities so that our app will be well accepted after the launch. We want to create an impact as soon as possible which will definitely help us to gain a huge bulk of users. In the beginning, our service will be limited in Dhaka only. So in short, within the next one year our primary goal is to make our mobile application operational and accessible by the residents of Dhaka city. After first year of business, our app should have a strong position in our society, already creating a huge impact on the female healthcare sector. But we won't stop there. The app will expand not only geographically but also operationally. Right now, our app only includes premenstruation, menstruation and pregnancy related problems. But in future, we have plans to add other health issues like menopause, neonatal care etc. Also,to reach out to the remote areas of Bangladesh, we have plans to set up small healthcare booths which will work like a connecting hub for the doctors & poor villagers. Our primary goal within the next five years will mostly be to reach out to every corner of Bangladesh.

For the next year, the barriers are the toughest but they can be overcome. Right now, financial barriers are creating the most problems. For app development, promotional activities, piloting project etc., we are in need of some funds. As we will be using a complete computerized process, technical barriers will definitely occur. All mobile application or similar platforms in Bangladesh have to follow certain rules & regulations set by the ICT ministry of Bangladesh. We might have to tweak one or two things in the policy of our app for legal issues. Cultural barriers are very significant for us. In Bangladesh, the topics that we are working on are considered as taboo. There is no healthy culture of sex education as well. Due to lack of literacy in the rural areas, these problems are more severe there. Also, people are not used to using mobile apps to connect to doctors. Users might not feel safe and have trust issues. The negative culture of Bangladesh on female health issues is a huge barrier which needs to be sorted out. Right now, there are some related apps like "DoctorDaako","Maaya","Doctorola","Jeeon" etc. But none of them can be termed as successful yet. So, we feel that the market is quite open for us if we are innovative. For the next five years, financial & technical barriers should minimize as we'll start to grow. Legal and market barriers should also be dealt with. 

For financial barriers, we are trying to raise funds as much as we can. We found some success as well. We hope we will get some help both monetary & guidance from Tiger Foundation as well. As we start to grow, financial barriers should be resolved.
For technical barriers, we will be creating our technological unit of our company. Right now, we are working on the technological side ourselves but in the future, we have plans to hire professionals for technological work.
For legal barriers, we need to properly assess the rules & regulations for the mobile applications set by the ICT ministry of Bangladesh. We also wish to collaborate with the government to reach out to remote areas of the country. Moreover, professionals will be hired in the future to see the legal activities of our company.
For cultural barriers, we first & foremost need to raise awareness about these female health issues that we are working on. We need to make people understand that these so-called taboos are important for a woman. Campaigns will be arranged in rural areas to remove the social stigma about these topics. For this, we can collaborate with the government & other NGOs. A few years ago, people never thought that ride-sharing apps like Uber, Pathao will be successful in a country like Bangladesh. But that culture has changed. So, we are hopeful to bring another change in the health sector as well

Full-time staff- 6 people 

Part-time staff- 5 people

Contractors- 3 people

Our core team has six members. Four of us are studying in EEE, BUET, one of us is in CSE, BUET and our sixth member is studying in BBA, EWU. So while the five of us handle the technical side, our sixth member is capable of handling the business side. One of our core team members, ASM Sadman Sakib also acts as our designer. He is also currently working as the designer of IEEE Bangladesh Section Newsletter and the designer of IEEE BUET Student Branch. We have experience in working with doctors to digitalize healthcare system of Bangladesh. Our member from CSE, Ashiqur Rahman handles the coding side and technical management of our app data and memory. One of the most unique things about our app is the Bangla blogs under construction. This is the first bangla blog being written on such a big scale on this topic. Mumtahina Islam Sukanya, a contributor in IEEE Bangladesh Section Newsletter who is also a member of our core team, is currently overseeing the whole blog portion. She is collaborating with two doctors from Dhaka Medical College who are also our part time employees. To summarize, we would like to confidently claim that ours is a diverse team capable of handling such a big scale project efficiently.  

We have already contacted with BRAC to organize awareness seminars on grass-root level. They'll get in touch with us soon and we are hoping for a positive answer. 

Jarvis Digital has been kind enough to partner up with us for digital marketing. 

We also have plan to collaborate with ICT division Bangladesh to implement our solution on a larger scale in order to make Bangladeshi healthcare system more technologically equipped. 

key partners

• Doctors with patients
• Payment processors
• Investors

key activities

• Service development and management
• Hiring doctors
• Managing doctors payout
• Patient support
• Technological platform
• Expert doctors

Key resource

• Technological platform
• Expert doctors

Value proposition

Patient:

• Minimum waiting time
• Get the service faster than any other apps
• Get the access to contact with doctors in case of emergency

Doctor:

• Additional source of income
• Flexible working schedules and can work part time
• Easy payment procedure

Cost Structure

• Technological Infrastructure
• Salaries to doctors
• Launch events & marketing expenditure

Revenue Streams

• 20% of any transactions
• Consulting texts (3 coins/text or BDT 2.45/text)
• Appointments (450 coins/appointment or BDT 375/appointment)
• Ad revenue

Channels

• Websites
• Mobile app for Android
• Mobile app for iOS

User Relationship

• Social Media
• Patient Support
• Review, Rating & Feedback system

We will bring in money through sustained donation and grants and also raising investment capital to fund our work. 70% of our total funding came from a Non Profit Organization named Care Bd. They have given us approximately BDT 126000 for our business as foundation granting. The rest was our (share holders) investment.

We will meet up our cost or earn our revenue through Ads. $0.02-$0.15 on every click on the banners of the ads. $0.05 on every full screen 5 second ads. Also we will get 20% of the visiting charge. . Consulting texts (3 coins/text or BDT 2.45/text). Appointments (450 coins/appointment or BDT 375/appointment)

Here are some ways to financial sustainability that we follow:

• Managing the accounting properly
• Reviewing the costs
• Making financial projections
• Keeping a separate business account
• Remaining frugal
• Taking care of the expenditure

If our solution gets selected we hope to overcome the financial barrier as we will get a huge amount of monetary help as well as guidance from the Tiger IT Foundation. This will help to grow our business. Moreover, Tiger IT Foundation can also help us in overcoming the publicity barrier. As we are a small organization it's quite tough for us to reach a huge number of women. We hope that through Tiger IT Foundation our business will get a great boost in publicity. As Bangladesh is a developing country and illiteracy rate is quite high here, most of the people here are not aware of health care. Even women are deprived and neglected in most cases about their health. So, we hope that Tiger IT Foundation will help us arranging different seminars and campaign about women health care and help us to raise awareness about women health.
All in all Tiger IT Foundation can help us overcome the financial barrier, publicity barrier and guide us to scale up or business. 

ICT division of Bangladesh has funding for ICT based startup. That's why we want to partner up with them. For publicity, campaign and seminar we would like to partner up with BRAC, Unicef. As these are big organizations they can help us to reach a huge amount of people. Also for creating awareness about women's health and our App, we would like to partner up with Jago Foundation and Save The Children Foundation. As our service is regarding health care and we are creating a platform for patient to reach doctor as quickly and as easily as possible, we would also like to partner up with health ministry of Bangladesh and would like to accelerate our work.