Access to Pandemic Resources in Myanmar

COVID-19 has been an ongoing global health crisis and it has also impacted Myanmar. 

The emerging COVID-19 pandemic points to the importance of providing populations with accurate and timely information on proper health responses and the need to emphasize the importance of self-assessment system to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, especially those with weak public health systems like in Myanmar.

In response to the above problems that have arisen in Myanmar as a result of the pandemic, KKT will leverage the widespread reach of our existing health platform “Maymay” to develop COVID-19 messaging, disseminate COVID-19 information and services via messaging and using messaging for COVID-19 diagnosis. 

COVID-19 pandemic has impacted countries globally and with our solution, we can implement them across many other countries in the world. 

Myanmar officially reported its first cases on March 23, 2020, and has reported about 264 cases to date due to ongoing community transmission. The pandemic is impacting the Myanmar economy, existing intercommunal ethnic and religious tensions, and the refugee crisis in addition to stretching the capacity of the public health system. In addition, one main issue resulting from COVID-19 in Myanmar has been the widespread dissemination of misinformation and fake news. In Myanmar, Facebook is the internet. Most information on COVID-19 is found via Facebook, much of which appears to be false or misleading and causes the public to engage in activities such as panic buying and rumor mongering. Moreover, some people in Myanmar do not have access to reliable health information about treatment of COVID-19 and are taking homeopathic and other medications by themselves without a doctor’s advice or prescription. Overall, public access to accurate information about COVID-19 still remains relatively low in Myanmar compared to other countries.  

In response to COVID-19, we are leveraging the widespread reach of our existing health platform “Maymay” to expand access to risk communication, health and financial services.   

We are actively seeking to do the following: 

1) Developing COVID-19 messaging: Develop a repository of COVID-19 content for circulation via Maymay platform. To do so, we will digitize information from the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health and Sports.  

2)Disseminating COVID-19 information and services via messaging: Maymay users and subscribers of chatbot in Facebook will receive daily messages encouraging virus preventive behaviors and awareness about the pandemic. In addition, people will be able to take out new SME loans and MFI loans, as well as place orders for PPE and hygiene kits via Maymay messaging. 

3) Using Maymay chatbot messaging for COVID-19 preliminary diagnosis:  From Maymay chatbot and app messaging, Maymay users can analyze whether they have symptoms that correlate to having COVID-19, allowing people to take self-assessments. Users are able to record video and audio of their faces and audibilizing sounds, with algorithms determining whether they may have COVID-19. 

Maymay is made by and for women, targeting women ages 18-51 who are expecting or having a baby. As outlined further below, 56% of KKT’s 117-person team is female. Our design teams consult women, in addition to their male partners, at several stages during initial product development. Our user-testing team seeks feedback from women and their partners in several states and regions, and in both urban and rural areas, to ensure the app minimizes potential harm and that the views and preferences of women are incorporated into Maymay. 

Public access to accurate information about COVID-19 still is relatively low in Myanmar compared to other countries. Through the Maymay digital messaging campaign, we expect more Myanmar people with access to smartphones will have the correct information regarding COVID-19 and will be able to differentiate between COVID-19's fake and correct information, raise the awareness of the public, and obtain other health-related services such as telemedicine and doctor referrals. With this, we expect to combat misinformation related to the pandemic and reinforce positive health behaviors in the Myanamr population.

Maymay connects women and their newborns to the benefits of health and financial systems through the life-course. Its innovativeness is multi-fold. For women and newborns in communities, Maymay currently provides critical information about vaccinations, nutrition and early childhood development, adolescent and reproductive health information, and gender-based violence, thereby influencing healthy behaviors that help reduce maternal and under-5 mortality. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Maymay now provides authoritative information about the virus to its audience and its telehealth feature ensures access for families in underserved areas. Maymay also provides women and their families with financial literacy information about available financial services and key topics relating to banking, lending, insurance and mobile money.  

This approach is both novel and sustainable, as currently, there are no other Myanmar-based technology developers supporting an integrated system that strengthens public sector services in way that comprehensively addresses various determinants of health, beyond direct primary care. Content is delivered to users through a blended approach of articles, quizzes, games and all core content is available in 9 ethnic Myanamar languages to ensure maximum accessibility. 

1) In the Maymay app, our developers are building out a dedicated COVID-19 information portal that posts information, articles, and animations collected in the digital repository. In addition to the normal maternal and child health focused messaging that Maymay users currently receive three times a week, they will also receive daily messages encouraging virus preventive behaviors and awareness about the pandemic.  

2) Users will receive push notification messaging on taking out health insurance policies for Covid-19, as well as messaging on the benefits of health insurance. Through integrations with insurance companies, users will be able to take out new health insurance policies via Maymay messaging. Similarly, users will be able to take out new SME loans and MFI loans via Maymay messaging after API integration with fintech and financial service providers.

Launching in 2014, today Maymay is the most popular mHealth app in Myanmar focused on women and children. It has won the GSMA Connected Women Award and a Stevie Award for Women in Business. Core features of Maymay include a social feed (similar to that of Facebook) with health articles, games, quizzes, animations and illustrations, a doctor locator listing nearby medical professionals, a GBV hotline and moderated chat room, all available in 8 ethnic Myanmar languages corresponding to the nine months of pregnancy, and three weekly messages timed to the stage of pregnancy or age of the child. The app and all its features are packaged in a contemporary, user-friendly, and culturally appropriate layout which provides an engaging user experience. It is an Android app featuring offline mode and back-end services, including an Azure SQL database and APIs. 

 

Through the free digital platform Maymay, KKT will disseminate tailored and validated risk communication materials directly to local communities after digitizing COVID-19 information from the WHO and MoHS. Communication materials will cover topics such as characteristics of the virus, effective hand hygiene, surface sanitation, self-isolation in addition to the existing maternal and child health and financial literacy content already on the platform. Users in all regions of Myanmar will have access to mobile banking, telemedicine, and doctor/clinician referrals. Through the digital platform, targeted communities will have access to validated information and knowledge on COVID-19, access to health service providers via telemedicine, and access to financial services such as taking out new SME loans and MFI loans. Such information and resources will enhance the resilience of local communities by allowing them to make informed decisions on how to best protect themselves and allowing access to critical health and financial infrastructure.

Expected long-term results for this project is as follows: 

• Reduction in the # of COVID19 cases: As a result of the COVID19 messaging, we can expect a reduction in the number of cases reported as the proposed project will encourage and educate the 3,00,000 users to practice preventive measures and stay safe. 

• Reduction in the adverse psychological impact of the crisis: Myanmar citizens will have correct information regarding COVID19 and will be able to differentiate between fake and correct news. This will lead to less speculation, rumor mongering, therefore a more pacified community in the midst of misinformation leading to panic buying. 

• Reduction in the economic impact of the crisis: Messaging will help users absorb economic shocks in the form of increasing access to financial instruments such as loans that will help them run their businesses, cover part of health expenditures which independently, they will not be able to bear. 

• Supporting the government and various agencies: We will be able to create an active ecosystem of various stakeholders working to fight COVID19 by helping them identify hotspots in Myanmar, share our database of users experiencing COVID19 and help in overall mitigating it’s adverse impacts.  

Our Maymay app is the most popular maternal and child health platform in Myanmar, composed of a mobile app (300,000 registered users, 60,000 monthly active users, 2+ million monthly user engagements), a Facebook page (410,000 likes), a Viber chatbot (37,000 subscribers), and a Messenger chatbot (20,000+ subscribers, 16,000 telemedicine consultations per month). In the next five years, we  anticipate Maymay being used by 1 million new and expecting mothers in Myanmar, reading on average 20 maternal and child health messages per month and accessing financial services of fintech, microfinance, and microinsurance providers through their phones.  

Maymay will continue to expand to more mothers and pregnant women across the country, and help expand critical health infrastructure should another crisis like COVID19 occur again in the future. Our vision is that all women and girls in Myanmar, regardless of geography, socio-economic status or ethnicity, are empowered with a single digital tool that connects their families to the benefits of the health system and formal financial institutions. We also anticipate expanding the Maymay platform to several countries in the ASEAN region in the next few years, through partnerships with local service providers. 

We require additional financial resources to finance the addition of COVID specific resources in Maymay in order to build out various digital health components as well as boost the platform through long-term advertising campaigns. We also require funding to start the international expansion of Maymay, which will require translation in various local languages, travel to new countries to set up partnerships, and additional software development to ensure the tool scales efficiently and successfully. 

We are seeking several forms of funding for Maymay beyond grant-funding as it is a goal to make this platform sustainable in the long term. The core app has already been developed and costs for upkeep are relatively low. For our international expansion, we are in the process of finalizing partnerships with stakeholders and NGOs committed to helping implement our work in other countries.

KKT has 111 full-time staff and 6 part-time staff in total which comprised with various department such as program team, developer team, business development team, design team, ethnography team. Moreover, 95% are Myanmar nationals, 56% of our workforce is female, the average age is 25 and the staff includes Buddhists, Muslims and Christians and ethnic groups such as Shan, Kayin, Kachin, and Chin. 

KKT’s team, as expected, is one of the key drivers behind our preferred methodology. KKT pursues a progressive organizational structure and has minimized the complexity of hierarchy, encouraging cooperation and collaboration across departments and teams. While the company is still relatively small, we want to take advantage of the potential for staff from distinct backgrounds and specialties to interact, share and create. Average staff age is around 25, and most have not previously worked in a strictly hierarchical, structured office environment. They therefore thrive on the creative freedom which the Agile methodology affords, and are able to quickly respond to issues, following simple, secure and rapid approval processes. Agile teams are interdisciplinary, avoid siloed thinking and benefit from different perspectives of team members. 

From the programmers who write the code to the content writers who write the articles, maymay is entirely and intentionally Myanmar-made. We believe that real change and lasting impact is best achieved when an intervention/product is designed by a team with a deep understanding of the user/beneficiary, who share the same language and culture. Our approach provides our employees with both the support and the freedom they need to create modern, professional and unique software, and the results speak for themselves. 

We have a strong existing partnership with LIFT (Livelihoods and Food Security Fund), which has enabled the distribution of Maymay across all states/regions in Myanmar, development of key nutritional content in the app, and COVID-19 rapid response initiatives. We also work regularly with Population Services International on distribution and content development. The effectiveness, reliability, and professionalism of the app is demonstrated through the support which Maymay has received from the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) which has approved the distribution of Maymay in hospitals across Myanmar as well as approving Maymay’s maternal and child health content. 

The lack of accurate COVID-19 information and self-assessment diagnosis tool can lead to unwanted consequences in Myanmar. Through the development of accurate information approved by Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) and WHO, we will be delivering contents on the importance of social distance, correct way to wear masks and hand-washing. Likewise, people can test themselves through our messaging tool to self-diagnose for COVID-19. Both developments can have positive impact on reducing the increasing number of COVID-19 patients in Myanmar.  

Our key customer would be service providers, such as micro-insurance or financial institutions. We are already in partnership and in talks with Stonestep Myanmar, AIA Insuracnce and Prudential Myanmar. As for financial institutions, we have already talked with banks (KBZ, Yoma, CB), microfinance institutions and mobile money service providers like Wave Money. We will charge them commission fees for every insurance plan and small loans May may users buy from our channel. 

Our key beneficiaries are Myanmar citizens, who will greatly benefit from the accurate COVID-19 contents. We will build out a dedicated COVID-19 information portal that posts information, articles, and animations collected in the digital repository. In addition to the normal health messaging that Maymay users currently receive three times a week, they will also receive daily messages encouraging virus preventive behaviors and awareness about the pandemic. Our contents will also be translated into ethnic languages and they can access our content in both texts, audio, and video format.   

Koe Koe Tech is well positioned as a leading innovator in the growing IT and tech market in Myanmar. While COVID-19 has led to a slowdown in economic growth in Myanmar and in neighbouring ASEAN countries, technology and software is emerging as a vital tool and investment in the sector is strong. We have grant-funding and have forecasted financial stability for our company in the next 18 months. 

We are constantly innovating to add new features in Maymay and adopt the platform based on the needs of beneficiaries. As a result, Maymay’s popularity has growth amidst the pandemic because it is known around the country to be a trusted portal for health messaging and services. Our approach is novel because there are no other Myanmar-based technology developers supporting an integrated system that strengthens public-sector services in the areas of health and finance. Even more, through our partnership with ACTED, we are linking digital services and messaging to in-person distribution of hygiene kits. 

As a result of our project, further linkages with digital value-added service providers could be made and with additional grassroots service providers, opening the possibility for further development impact. Ultimately, our work aims to create value for beneficiaries in Myanmar affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Considering this, this project should enable greater profitability and competitiveness through charging value-added service providers, such a micro-insurance or finance institution, a small commission fee. 

We are applying to Solve for the community of expertise. We want to learn from those who have worked in similar fields around the world, especially those who have attempted similar solutions in developing countries in the region. Experienced, knowledgeable experts are sparse in Myanmar, and while we do our best to train up a skilled workforce, we understand the need to bring in external expertise where we cannot find it in-country. We would thus value feedback on our operations, M&E, app behavioral design, and financial and business models that work in low-resource contexts like Myanmar. Access to a global network of experts would provide us with the expertise to execute the project efficiently and effectively, ensuring we achieve maximum impact. 

KKT will need technical expertise for the future development of the application and will continue to need improvement to keep up-to-date knowledge in technical field. KKT needs funding to keep the app sustainable in the long-term and to build out capacity for international expansion of the platform. 

KKT requires funding and support from more potential partners, funders, and investors as we plan to expand nationally. With additional support, KKT will have the capacity to enable updates and iterations of the existing software. We require resources to add advanced functionalities within our technology that will increase usability and adoption of software for our Maymay users. We hope to connect with more potential partners in similar fields in different countries where we may able to expand our solution. Furthermore, this opportunity will also allow us to share our experiences and challenges with others, enabling greater innovation with the ultimate goal of social impact. 

Koe Koe Tech had been using innovative technology and creating several software application to improve quality of life for women and girls. 

Maymay (“mother” in Burmese) is an android application created for mothers and (pregnant) women in Myanmar. Maymay provides users with professional, reliable information on the core pillars underlying maternal and child health such as nutrition and disease, with the overall goal of improving the long-term health outcomes of both mother and child. Today, maymay is the most popular Myanmar mHealth app designed for women, and its continued growth over 5 years demonstrates its relevance and importance to our users, Myanmar mothers and women. 

Pyo Pyo May (PPM) is a mobile health application that aims to promote the holistic development of girls and young women in Myanmar aged 14-24 by providing an engaging, interactive, and safe platform where girls can learn about sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) topics including family planning, menstruation, sexually transmitted diseases, healthy relationships, and gender-based violence (GBV).The app also contains Myanmar's first period tracker, allowing users to better understand and manage their cycle,

providing education and tools to combat the stigma and misinformation traditionally surrounding menstruation.

Sayarma (“Teacher” in Burmese) is a mobile application that aims to support young girls and women in IDP camps in tackling the barriers that they face in their daily lives. Launched in 2016, Sayarma was founded in partnership with UNFPA to provide the basic digital literacy and basic ICT skills to women in IDP camps.