Opportunity Area

How might we improve demand and access to essential maternal health medicines & supplies in Uganda??

The proposed title of your idea

MOMS-TO-BE app

Please describe your idea.

Moms-to-be app enables expectant mothers to find the nearest public health facility and monitors that they get the essential medicines.

What problem does your idea solve in the market?

Our idea seeks to solve the problem of low access to maternal health care medicines and low awareness/demand for these medicines. Many expectant mothers are unaware that these medicines are availed by government for free or at a subsidized price at public health facilities or private health institutions that serve as distribution points. Even those who are aware do not know where to access these medicines.
Sometimes the medicines are not available due to the procurement process of National Drug Stores so we intend to solve that problem too.

Briefly explain how you identified the need or opportunity

While at Mbarara Referral Hospital where I had gone to attend to my aunt who had given birth, I got to interact with other new mothers in the maternity ward. Many of the new mothers had not accessed ante-natal health medicines and even as they were vaguely aware that government had provided these medicines, they did not know where to get them from.
They expressed a desire to have a well set procedure/system put in place for accessing these medicines.

Who are the beneficiaries of your solution and how will they benefit?

Beneficiaries are expectant mothers who own or have access to a mobile phone. Those with smartphones will use the mapping system in the app to locate the nearest public health facility, and those with simple phones will send a text message to a short code like 6118 and will receive a message showing the nearest health facility. Thereafter they will create a national medical ID to monitor access to these medicines. The government will have access to this data for better planning.

Why are you convinced your solution will solve the problem?

Presently, according to Uganda Communication Commission, 22.6 million Ugandans own a mobile phone, and 19.9 million of these subscribers use mobile money service. With the success of the inclusion of financial services in telecommunications, we believe health services can also be successfully included.
The ladies we interviewed also had a good first impression of the app idea and were delighted at the prospect of being able to readily access the essential medicines with their phones.

What other initiatives like yours exist out there? How will you differentiate your solution?

The other initiatives available are;
-My Pregancy Today (iphone and android)
-Glow Nature (ios and android)
-Mommy Meds (ios and android)
In addition to providing the services provided by the above three apps, Moms-to-be app will enable expectant mothers to locate the nearest public health center and it will also enable collaboration of expectant mothers, doctors, and the government in the provision of these medicines.
A website will be made with both doctor login and expectant mother login and it will be accessible to even expectant mothers who do not own a smartphone. The doctors will fill in a digital medical form on their computers for each expectant mother to foster record keeping and this data will be synced to the government database to streamline the procurement process of National Drug Stores and ensure that the medicines are available in adequate amounts.
We shall also differentiate our solution by being more versatile, handy, and having more features within the app.

What have you done up-to date to test your idea with potential users? What learnings do you have to share?

We asked ladies of different age groups, financial capacity and technological adeptness and they gave us feedback;
– They expressed desire for simplicity on all the platforms entailed in this solution i.e the app, website and short code messaging. They required the platforms to be easy to use and effective.
– We learnt that sometimes apps are downloaded but seldom used because they do not engage the users regularly. We therefore added other functions like Menstrual period tracking, STI/STD information checking, guidelines for healthy pregnancy, and a chat/forum to encourage user engagement with the app.
– The ladies also stated that even when they visited public health centers there was not a set procedure for accessing these medicines. We therefore included a digital medical form for each expectant mother. The form is filled by the doctor and is accessible to the expectant mother and to the government database.

How will you financially sustain your business?

In collaboration with telecom companies, each text message sent on the short code platform will be charged UGX 250. Moms-to-be will get a portion of this money.

In-app advertising will be used to generate income on the Moms-to-be app in the form of banner ads. We project that there will be much income generated from the ads due to the effort made to increase user engagement within the app. This can be a good source of income and most apps on mobile phones use banner ads as a monetization technique. Those who do not want to see ads will have the option of buying the ad-free version at 2 USD.

No banner ads will be placed on the Moms-to-be website. National Drug Stores will be charged a maintenance fee for the website and the database. The fee will vary depending on the bulk of the data. We will ensure to negotiate well with the government. Payments from the government are projected to be the highest source of income for the app.

Please share a link to a 3 minute online video that best describes your idea and team

https://youtu.be/Yn8D9_0ZV-E

Please tell us about each founder and their roles on the team. How do you know your founders and how long have you worked together?

Andrew Asiimwe is a 24 year old male. He is skilled in motion graphics, 3d animation and computer programming. He is also a writer and author of a book. He likes working with computers and creating tech solutions to problems in the society.
Email: [email protected]
Phone no#: 0723161842.

Debbie Melody is a 20 year old lady studying Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Makerere University. She is passionate about working with ladies in the community and providing solutions to challenges affecting them.

Please tell us about other team members that are not cofounders.

Rhona Brooks Birabwa is a 20 year old lady studying Business Administration at Makerere University Business School. She has interned at an NGO which provides health medicines like ARVs to people.

Which members of your team will attend the program full-time?

Andrew Asiimwe
Debbie Melody

Supporting Documents

View Document