OMOMI

Africa offers the biggest challenge to maternal and child healthcare delivery worldwide. According to UNICEF, every single day Nigeria loses 2,300 under-five year olds and 145 women of childbearing age; this makes Nigeria the second largest contributor to maternal and under-5 mortality worldwide. Women of child bearing age (15 to 45 years) account for almost 22% of the total population of Nigeria, and approximately 40 million people (National Bureau of Statistics, 2012). Similarly, every 10 minutes, one woman dies because pregnancy or childbirth in Nigeria, giving a total of 53,000 per year (UNICEF, 2015). This means about 800 women die in every 100,000 live births. Furthermore, Nigeria’s new-born death rate (neonatal mortality) of 528 per day is one of the highest in the world. More than a quarter of the estimated 1 million children who die under the age of 5 years annually in Nigeria die during the first 28 days of life (neonatal period). Furthermore, with a population of 160 million people and a little over 35,000 doctors according to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), the country has a doctor: patient ratio of 1:6400; this clearly shows a massive gap with an enormous need that must be met.

Our product, the multi-award winning ỌMỌMI, is a mobile app, web and SMS platform which combines innovation with the already existing infinite potential of mobile technology in Africa. OMOMI is based on the WHO childhood survival strategies. Our product is built to educate and encourage women to be active participants in their own health. The app helps mothers track immunisation, monitor growth and development, give breastfeeding guidelines, and help mothers manage diarrhoea at home through simple DIY skills. The female education is gamified to improve user’s health education knowledge. By using gamification, we intend to improve parents and caregivers basic health knowledge in promoting child and maternal healthcare. Furthermore, the app has a mother’s community section which provides a safe and secure platform for mothers to interact, share and learn with other mothers and doctors. To effectively reach even more mothers, the service is provided on a SMS service platform and currently working on an IVR service as we continue grow to reach more mothers irrespective of their educational and/or socioeconomic status. Using behavior change modification, continuous learning and providing simple DIY skills and techniques our solution is trying not only to solve the acute problem of lack of access (which we are also solving) but provide a long-term solution to problem of maternal and child mortality. The OMOMI solution therefore, empowers mothers with basic knowledge and skills which is easily transferable to her family, fellow mothers and the society while still solving the acute problems of access to health for mothers and their children.

More Options: Currently our service works on web, SMS and app. We are working on voice messages. Our service provides care from conception till the child is five. Our services provide care for the pregnant mothers as well as for mothers and children under-5 Better Details: Our app and web are better detailed services targeting maternal and child health. With the policy based on WHO and UNICEF working toolkits including the Childhood Survival Strategies. Also, our SMS content is being supplied by MAMA Global, leading global expert on content for mobile development in maternal and child health. These contents have been tailored by our team of doctors to meet the health needs of local mothers More Interactive: Our app/web services has a mother’s community where mothers are provided access to speak with doctors online. A quiz section, and a self-help home diarrhoea management and growth monitoring section. We therefore taken best practice methods and information from leading organizations like the WHO, UNICEF and UNESCO and reform them, making them suitable and easily understood by the public in forms of an easy to use, simple but comprehensive mobile app, SMS services. Our team has a unique blend of experience in working in the health sector in developing countries and technical knowledge to support this experience, with brilliant software engineers. By creating this product, we modifying and interpreting existing healthcare strategies to reach out to our users.