Whether it’s the first pregnancy or the third, the apprehension felt by expectant moms towards the health of their unborn child is unchanged. Also, many mothers do not have access or lack proper guidance from healthcare providers during this crucial time of their lives.
Well the good news is that there is a new app in town called OBaa Health that was literally conceptualized to be expectant mothers’ trusted companion through their journey of motherhood. This mobile app effectively lets moms consult qualified healthcare providers. With OBaa Health, they can get quality care in matter of minutes.
Meet Great Minds Behind OBaa Health!
OBaa Health was conceptualized and co-founded by Cobby Amoah and Charles Kunene.
Cobby, who is also the CEO of the start-up, is a MIT GFSA alum. From his past work experiences with many international health organizations, he developed a passion to create innovative technological solutions that will soon transform the healthcare sector.
Charles, who is also the Head of Design in the company, is a MIT GFSA alum. Originally from Swaziland, he currently manages the aesthetic vision of OBaa Health from branding, web design, and UX development.
The duo with the help of their amazing team that comprises of Lea Sonnenschein, CTO and Rahul Kulkarni, Head of Operations, are looking to revolutionize healthcare delivery through data analytics and remote consultations.
Know More About OBaa Health!
OBaa is a virtual consulting room designed to enable mothers to connect with lactation consultants and obstetricians at their convenience. This platform is also built to empower health providers to deliver the best care by providing them with the tools to monitor patient health and the data to render a better diagnosis.
This mobile app is extremely simple to use and expectant mothers can get all the quality care they need in just a few clicks.
What Problem is OBaa Health Solving?
In the US, breastfeeding rates are extremely low. This is primarily because mothers give up breastfeeding in the first month after birth due to lack of right guidance from lactation consultants or obstetricians.
“Our solution makes it easy, convenient and affordable for a mother to receive the help she needs. By working with hospitals, we are also able to better schedule consultations with health providers, and access the health data of mothers. We are addressing a different but related problem in Ghana. Currently, health records in Ghana are written by-hand, and with our application, there’s the opportunity to bring them onto the cloud which would make them accessible to health providers, NGO’s and government agencies. Health providers would also be able to view, diagnose and track a patient over the duration of their pregnancy or treatment. It is also much easier to keep these records updated and to migrate them to other platforms”, says the team.
Further, OBaa Health is also looking to finally give Government agencies the tools to prioritize resource allocation and to meet their own goals to bolster national health with more knowledge of what’s actually happening on the ground.
What Inspired it All?
OBaa began as an idea when Cobby, the CEO, volunteered in Ghana for the WHO. He realized that mobile health has the potential to improve communication and monitoring between patients and doctors.
On Challenges Faced & Competitors
As with any start-up company, hiring is the biggest hurdle that the team is currently facing. “When in a small team, the contributions of a few can have a drastic impact on how an early-stage company is run. Staffing the people with the ‘best fit’ becomes even more important and in the past, we have made some mistakes in that arena. But our mistakes have made us more vigilant and more aware of what we’re looking for”, says the team.
In terms of competition, potential competitors of OBaa Health seem to be Healthtap, Doctor on Demand and American Well. This is because even these apps focus on remote healthcare or telehealth.
On Plans of Expansion & More
The team has been working on introducing the beta version of OBaa to the US market. They will initial begin with expectant mothers, lactation consultants and OBGYN’s. However, they do want to scale up and invite more providers to join their platform.
Currently, the team already has a pilot lined up starting February with a hospital and over 100 users. On top of that, they are also raising for a seed round.
How Do They Plan on Monetizing?
OBaa health offers a subscription and a one-time fee for access to a health provider. With both options, mothers can engage in video calls or voice calls with their providers.
The one-time fee option is a solution for mothers who only want a quick consultation from a qualified health provider. This is most suitable for treatments that would not be on-going.
On the other hand, with the subscription offer, a patient will be matched with a single health provider for the duration of her subscription. The team believes that mothers want to develop relationships with their providers, and that providers are in a position to develop the best care when they can access the health information of their patient. This offer also allows the providers to track a mother’s health over time and can have the opportunity to follow-up after the subscription period has ended to assess the effectiveness of the care delivered.
To sum it all up, this mobile app is a blessing in disguise for all your new and expectant mothers out there!
To know more about OBaa Health, do visit: obaahealth.com
