KOCHI:There may be many health platforms that offer solutions to women on motherhood but when it comes to a complete guidance on improving maternal and infant health, there aren’t many reference materials out there.
This is exactly what Anjali Raj, Ganga Raj and Suma Ajith felt before embarking on creating a unique platform which brings everything related to pregnancy and post-partum wellness under a single platform. ‘I love 9 Months’, a one-of-its-kind app, is a go-to guide for every woman who wants to embark on that eventful journey.
The trio is participating in the Global Impact Challenge being held at Technopark. “Unlike other fitness platforms, ‘I love 9 months’ delivers integrated care and provides people with seamless experience through a continuum of care with the sole aim of improving maternal and infant health,” said Anjali Raj, the co-founder.
The app equips, educates, engages and empowers women to make the right choices.
The organisation also works with UNICEF’s ‘priority interventions’ during the critical window between pre-conception to post pregnancy. They also have a range of products and services which are part of the connected maternity health which includes the Doctor App, Customer App, Birth Companions (Home care services) and Corporate Workshops.
The app features 4000+ plus minutes of pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and post-pregnancy exercise videos, antenatal class videos, blogs, tips and articles. Personalised Q & A forum and 10-free maternal and infant health trackers are also available. The mothers can upload medical reports, share tracker information and much more through the app.
The app has won many prestigious awards and recognition in the last six months including the India-Israel Innovation Challenge in Healthcare, by StartUp India, Government of India initiative, ISB SAP Jumpstart Social Enterprise Accelerator Program, incubation at T-Hub, Hyderabad and Kerala Startup Mission.
“We aim to achieve our goal of large-scale collective change in the area of maternal wellness through an alliance with governments, private and public hospitals, corporate, NGO’s, self-help groups and medical personnel,” says Anjali.
The trio also aims at spreading awareness about the need of fitness during pregnancy.
Birth companions
The first group of birth companions will be launched in the capital city by the end of this month. A group of therapists, birth companions can help a mother manage gestational diabetes, hypertension, obesity during pregnancy, reduce chances of C-sec rates, improve breastfeeding rates, decrease postpartum depression and help a mother get back to her pre-pregnancy weight. “Anyone can know about the service or pre-book the service for themselves or their loved ones,” says Anjali.
The decision by Union Health Ministry to allow birth companions during deliveries was one of the first initiatives towards reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). Birth companions are trained in WHO standard education on pregnancy, labour and breastfeeding support and are certified Ayurvedic therapists for pregnancy, postpartum and baby massage therapy which leads them to offer the best holistic care to a mother.
