Tech Inspirations
Totohealth
Need
90 percent of the daily 800 maternal deaths and 8,000 newborn deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa are preventable. Yet ineffective and inadequate health care and birthing care options contribute to these staggering numbers. 46 percent of women in SouthEast Asia and 34 percent in sub-Saharan Africa do not receive prenatal care. The results of this deficiency include untreated hypertensive disorders, malnutrition, and many other preventable disorders. Without prenatal care, disorders that could lead to the death of mother or child during childbirth are left untreated
Succeed Totohealth is revolutionizing the maternal and child health industry. Every day in low-resource settings such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where Totohealth is located, there are 800 maternal deaths and 8,000 newborn deaths. Additionally, seven percent of all newborns each day have developmental disabilities. However, 90% of these deaths are preventable! Totohealth's solution uses SMS technology to allow parents from low-resource settings to monitor the development of their child using the electronic set of Totohealth's abnormality indicators, empowering them with relevant information and linking them to the right health care service providers for specialized care, treatment, and guidance. To date, Totohealth has sent 132,000 SMS's, leveraged 700 community health volunteers, and reached 6,000 mothers and fathers.
Success Story Totohealth has made tremendous success since the organization started in March 15th 2014. Totohealth now has 9 hospitals and 2 organizations using their platform to help improve their health outcomes. Out of this, Totohealth has managed to signup 4,600 parents and caregivers who are currently using Totohealth to monitor the development of their children and also receive timely and targeted information about their health and that of their children. Various cases of growth abnormalities that could possibly lead to disabilities have thus far been successfully detected and referred for further care. This is a huge success that has been achieved through this SMS platform.
In Kenya alone there are 1.32 million new births every year. Totohealth’s ultimate goal is to enroll mothers throughout Kenya, the East African region and the rest of the continent. The intention is to partner with the local government and other strategic partners and create a network that can be leveraged on to spread. Future plans include setting up of Early Detection Clinics (including mobile clinics) that would enable the platform to even better to detect developmental abnormalities
Felix Kimaru is the Founder and Executive Director at Totohealth. Felix's past experience was as the former head of product development at Mobidev Solutions, a company that creates mobile tech solutions to solve the world's most pressing problems. He also has vast consultation experience with leading social enterprises, including Ashoka, Action Network for the Disabled, and YouthBanner. His previous positions have allowed him to leverage his experience in order to find a unique approach for revolutionizing the maternal and child health industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Felix's mission is to continue to change the world, and he envisions a world where everyone is a change-maker.