NATAL CARES

NATAL CARES harnesses Mobile Technology, Machine Learning and Low-Cost Innovations to combat maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria.

At Natal Cares, we have developed a holistic innovative solution to help improve maternal and child health:

First, we bridge the healthcare information gap in underserved communities, by harnessing the power of Mobile Technology. We deliver valuable healthcare information about the symptoms of potentially fatal prenatal conditions using SMS and VOICE-NOTES. Health information is delivered in SIXTEEN preferred local languages to Pregnant and nursing mothers accessible on both feature and smart phones. These personalized weekly texts/voice-notes are sent to them throughout their pregnancy journey.

Secondly, we have developed Comprehensive DELIVERY KITS containing sixteen W.H.O recommended critical supplies pregnant women require at childbirth to ensure a safe and hygienic delivery. Also through ON-SITE and Natal Cares E-Training Platform, we train and educate frontline health workers and Traditional birth Attendants on latest delivery practices to increase their skillset, knowledge of best practices and build their capacity.

Finally, to address the devastating impact of lack of vaccination preventable childhood related diseases, our Mobile Application contains an IMMUNIZATION REMINDER. By consistently sending Immunization reminder messages including the closest immunization center using SMS and VOICE NOTES in local languages. We track and ensure that mothers present their babies for Immunization. 

According to UNICEF “Every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 children under five and 145 women of childbearing age due to complication of pregnancy and delivery and Vaccine-preventable diseases remain the most common cause of childhood mortality with an estimated three million deaths each year in Nigeria alone. Because of this, Nigeria is now the largest contributor to the under–five and maternal mortality rate in the world.” From our research in Nigeria, 85% of this mortality occurs in rural under-served communities because of THREE Major reasons:

1.   Unhealthy child-delivery practices by untrained community healthcare service providers 

2.   Broken healthcare systems and health care information gap

3.   Lack of Child-Vaccination related to mortality

PROBLEM WE ARE TRYING TO SOLVE 

1. We are addressing the various unhealthy child-delivery practices in underserved communities by untrained traditional birth-attendants and local community-healthcare workers. 

2. We are addressing the lack of basic health care information, making naïve women believe in fables and superstitions rather than medically approved information regarding health care.

3. We are addressing the devastating impact of lack of vaccination preventable childhood related diseases in children. According to W.H.O Vaccine-preventable diseases remain the most common cause of childhood mortality with an estimated 3-million deaths each year in Nigeria alone

NATAL CARES solution specifically serves pregnant women, nursing mothers, vulnerable children and traditional birth attendants living in underserved rural communities and who lack access to Basic Health care and certified HealthCare professionals. 

IN WHAT WAY WILL NATAL CARES IMPACT LIVES               

1.         Natal Cares provide lifesaving health information on symptoms of pre-natal conditions in preferred local languages using SMS and VOICE NOTES to pregnant women and Nursing mothers which will help to bridge the healthcare information gap and reduce maternal and infant mortality caused as a result of the lack of healthcare information especially in rural communities.

2.         Our idea helps to upscale, build capacity and also provides a stream of income for the traditional birth attendants who would be in charge of retailing the Delivery Kits. They would earn a dollar on every kit sold.

3.         Natal Cares provides beneficiaries with low-cost appropriate sterile health care supplies as well as training to frontline health workers which help to ensure that pregnant women do not have to risk their own safety and that of their new-borns in under-served communities

After losing my childhood friend/sister-in-law (Dorcas Edeani) at childbirth due to complications of pregnancy and Delivery, it was one of my saddest moments in life.  It was even more painful knowing that this was very preventable. Since then, I  have  dedicated myself  to  take  action  to  put  an  end  to maternal  and  child  deaths  or  at   least   reduce  them  drastically. 

To understand the major causes of these deaths and the needs of the population I want to serve, I carried out a major research which lasted for 8 months in 16 different under-served rural communities, engaging more than 260 pregnant women, nursing mother and traditional birth attendants. After the research I was able to discover that, Up to 85% of maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria occurs in under-served rural communities because of THREE major reasons:

1. The Unhealthy child-delivery practices by untrained community healthcare service providers in vulnerable communities:

2. The Broken healthcare systems and The lack of public health information which makes Nigerian women vulnerable to superstitions and several dangerous practices during childbirth

3. Lack of Child-Vaccination related to mortality

Natal Cares is currently at Growth Stage: We have developed a holistic innovative solution to help improve maternal and child health by harnessing mobile technology, machine learning and low-cost innovations: so far we have reached more than 85,000 users in more than 76 rural communities in Nigeria.

1. USSD CODE: Up to 11% of the women we are reaching have Smart Phones while about 98.7% of them directly or indirectly possess Feature phones through which they can dial a specialized code to get important and life-saving health information. These messages are customized to fit each woman’s profile (which would be ascertained through the answers they provide when interacting with the code) and would be offered in the SIXTEEN main Local languages in Nigeria (Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, pidgin, Tiv, Igala, Ibibio, Edo, idoma, etc)

2. VOICE SERVICES: For the vulnerable pregnant women and nursing mothers who cannot read, by harnessing Machine Learning (ML) focusing on Voice Technology through Chabot, Conversational agent and Virtual Assistant, we render voice messages capable of interacting with end-users via voice-activated commands to personalized information within the context of health information.

THE NATAL CARE MOBILE APPLICATION: our Mobile Application contains an IMMUNIZATION REMINDER were we track and ensure that mother present their babies for Immunization. We do this by consistently sending them Immunization reminder messages using SMS and VOICE NOTES in preferred local languages also with directions to the closest Immunization center to them. The App contains other innovative features such as: CONNECT-TO-DOCTOR Feature, Natal Cares HELPLINE and a BLOOD BANK Connect.

4. THE NATAL CARE PODCASTS: we introduce podcast series for pregnant women especially in remote under-served communities. The podcast is a way to discuss issues affecting the health of pregnant women and nursing mothers. 

In the last three years, we have been able to send customized health care messages using USSD and VOICE NOTES to around 85000 pregnant women and nursing mothers in SIXTEEN local languages who are actively subscribed on our mobile platform. Our Natal Cares Radio Program which is delivered in local languages educates and provides live-saving healthcare information to pregnant women and nursing mothers in remote communities in more than 6 states in Nigeria.

We have successfully disbursed about 85000 delivery kits to pregnant women which have helped to ensure safe births in 66 rural communities in Nigeria. We have successfully educated and trained around 1280 Traditional birth Attendants on latest delivery practices which has helped to upscale their capacity and increase their knowledge of best practices to ensuring safe births

We have successfully reminded 5000 women of their antenatal and immunization schedule through our Immunization Reminder. We have also economically empowered more 18 women who act as our agents across different rural communities in Nigeria.

In the next 12 Months, our goal is to be serving around 500,000 Users scaling into 16 states in Nigeria. 

1. IMPLEMENT E-TRAINING PLATFORM FOR FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKERS AND TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS

 In the next 12 Months, we hope to train approximately 1500 Traditional Birth Attendants on the latest delivery practices to help build their capacity and increase their knowledge of best practices.  We are working towards developing our Natal Cares E-Training Platform. This online/offline platform will contain certified pre-recorded training videos for community birth-attendants in their local languages. This platform gives them easy access to all our trainings from the comfort of their homes. 

2. Expand Natal cares HEALTHCARE INFORMATION Delivery AND messaging service

Nigeria has more than 250 indigenous languages. To reach more users in the next 12 months, we will increase our message service delivery from 16 Indigenous Languages to 30 Indigenous Languages to reach our goal of 500,000 users. We understand that most of our users especially those in rural under-served/under-nourished communities cannot read so we will deliver these messages using VOICE NOTES accessible in both Feature Phones and Smart Phones. 

3. Enhance NATAL CARES MOBILE APPLICATION Our application is vital to reaching our users. Over the 12 month program, we will release our Natal Cares Mobile App Version 2.0. This version will contain an updated IMMUNIZATION REMINDER, CONNECT-TO-DOCTOR Feature, Natal Cares HELPLINE and a BLOOD BANK Connect. The new version will allow us to communicate with our partners and critical health care agencies in our network.

WE MEASURE THE IMPACT OF OUR SOLUTIONS BASED ON

1.The rate of successful SAFE CHILD-DELIVERY carried out by Traditional Birth Attendants and other Frontline Health Workers who have been trained through our Natal Cares training program (Both On-Site Training Programs and our Natal Cares E-Training Platform)

2. The number of maternal and infant mortality recorded for pregnant women who are registered on our Mobile Messaging Service and also used our Natal Cares Delivery Kit

3. The rate at which mothers present their babies for immunization and regular check-ups especially in under-served communities through our Natal Cares Immunization Reminder.

4. The number of Mother who were able to conveniently afford and provide financial compensation for our solution through our flexible payment strategy: The NATAL CARES SAVING SCHEME. 

1. STARTUP RISKS

Natal Cares faces basically  startup risks; there is no other risk except some level of financial and product execution risk as well the need for company expansion and Scaling up. The overall environment is very helpful for the company operations and its sales. There is no market and product branding related risk for the company because the company is serving in the necessities of life which are not going to be extinct in near future so the company has a great scope for its products and services.

2. FUNDING FOR SCALE-UP

Our major challenge is how to scale up quickly. There are more than 54 million pregnant women in underserved communities in Nigeria who do not have access to our delivery kits and other innovative product and services. Our plan is to diversify and increase our revenue models and portfolios while still delivering impactful services

CORE TEAM

Name: Eunice Adewale

Position: Co-Founder/Project Manager

Education: MSc Nursing/Mid wifery

Experience: 4yrs experience

Name: Joy Chioma

Position: Co-Founder/ Director of Medicals

Education: Medical Doctor

Experience: 3 years’ experience

Name: Uche Udekwe

Position: Co-Founder/CEO

Education: M.Sc Health Management (University of Torino ITALY)

Experience: 5yrs Health Management Experience

Name: Charles Nnamdi

Position: Chief Technical Officer (CTO)

Education: P.Hd. (in view) Electronics Engineering

Experience: 3yrs experience

Name: Sidikat Summonu

Position: Medical Team Lead

Education: MSc Nursing/Mid wifery

Experience: 5yrs experience

Name: Dr Benjamin Awe

Position: Medical Team Lead

Education: Medical Doctor

Experience: 2 years’ experience

ADVISORY BOARD

• Dr Idowu Adeyemi: fihimn, fimc, cmc: MD/CEO Investcorp Medicare Limited
• Dr Adejoro Fasanmade: Former Permanent Secretary (PS) Ekiti State Ministry of Health
• Barrister Babatunde Fajire: Principal Partner of Babatope Fajire & Co
• Mrs Abimbola Agbejule: Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Department WEMA Bank

I have a MASTERS Degree in Nursing/Mid-Wifery, My Co-founder has a Masters in Health Management with over 5 years’ Health management experience with PRUNEDGE and Ondo State Ministry of Health. My Co-Founder is a Medical Doctor with 3 years’ experience in Public Health. Our C.T.O has a Ph.D. in View in Electrical Electronics. Has built healthcare and social awareness solutions for SME’s and major organizations. Our director of medicals has 5 years’ experience in public health with the Ondo State ministry of health. Our Operations Lead has a track record of streamlining operational processes. We have a very rich Advisory board who helps in making major and critically decisions for the company.

Understanding the global impact of our local work, we are currently working with Africans in the Diaspora and other international partners to develop technological and community- based solutions that will have global application. Some of our partners include:

The Camden Dream Center Technology Training School in New Jersey establishes collaborative relationships with organizations aiming to invest in Social Impact outcomes and returns in underserved communities. The Camden Dream Center is a public charitable organization, licensed provider, as well as a Cisco Networking Academy Support and Instructor Training Center. The Dream Center provides training on key occupations: Network Technician, IoT, Helpdesk, Big Data, Cybersecurity Technician, and Cybersecurity Analyst leading to industry certifications, postsecondary degrees, employment and/or entrepreneurship. We are working with their technical and engineering team led by Dr. Tunde Onitiri to enhance our technology.

Our other partners includes WEMA Bank Nigeria and The ONDO STATE Ministry Of Health