DESIRE Health Inclusive Organization

Our competitors are other digital health/health tech startups

While our competitors focus on Providers, we connect the dots (focus on all the ecosystem and include ALL health professionals and volunteers; Competitors focused on treatment, we focus on PREVENTIVE CARE but make the connection to other forms of care, available. Our targeting adolescents for reproductive Health Education is also a major asset to bridging existing gaps and further addressing the causes of maternal mortality in Nigeria/Africa. Other features that make our solution unique include:

Automation of clinic information sessions Focus on Patient involvement in care & behaviour support Focus on Patient-provider relationship & health-seeking behaviour/demand for skilled care Focus on (better) health outcomes 

My name is Adejoke OPEYEMI-OGUNGIRE and I am the founder of DESIRE Health Inclusive Organization (DHIO), a social enterprise that works to address inequities in health and socio-economic development among women and children with special needs (including deaf populations) and other members of the society

Growing up, I was there as a 13-year-old when my mom gave birth to her last child (I happen to be the first from a polygamous home of eleven children!). 

I was also there when my sister (living with hearing loss from childhood), had two of her children (unexpectedly) at home and we had to intervene between her and the health providers.

Out of my over 15 years of contributing to public health and community development, about 10 (years) was spent engaging/mobilizing communities for change and of course,  as a health professional, I  interact and work with other professionals in my field and other health-related sectors. So it’s only natural to be committed to connecting these two groups of people (users) for better impact/coverage (i.e. Universal Health Coverage), this time with the aid of digital technology.

This is what our new product, DESIREhealth is all about.

https://youtu.be/pD8GJSzPTh0

Problem

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about a hundred and nine (109) women die daily and 40,430 annually from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. This is about 19% of the global maternal death rate. 42 of the 109 daily deaths which is (15,000 of the 40,430 annual deaths) are caused by abortion. Sadly, the majority of these are adolescents 15-19 year-olds. Another risk to health outcomes is infodemic. 

The consequences of the poor state of pregnant women in Nigeria are numerous and affect maternal as well as child mortality. The under-five mortality ratio in Nigeria is 201 per 1000 live births meaning that one in five Nigerian children never reach the age of 5. Infant deaths, which account for half of the child mortality have increased from what they were in 1990. With a 13% immunization rate for children between 12-23 months, Nigeria is the African country with the lowest vaccination rate. The substantial presence of Acute Respiratory Infections and diarrhoea also contribute to the elevated mortality rates for children (WHO).

Our Solution 
Our solution is a reproductive health platform that connects adolescents and pregnant women to  (reproductive) health practitioners, antenatal support and services. 

Market size
The UN data estimates that 250 babies are born in the world every single minute! That’s 130 million babies per year. The burden of child mortality though remains unevenly distributed. This differs from country to country. However, in 2019, WHO reports 38 child mortality out of 1,000 live births. 
Our potential market size in Nigeria are 20 million adolescents and 15 million women. This is a potentially huge market size if we take into consideration the growing population trends in the world. 
The wellness/health market is worth about $4.2 Trillion (IMF) and it’s still growing, (grew by 6.4% btw 2015-2017). Digital health market size is estimated at $640Billion.

Our approach is inclusive and innovative, having gone through design thinking procedure that includes market research with potential users.

Our competitive advantage includes our focus on Preventive care, Platform that connects Consumers and Providers, Support & Participatory Health delivery that includes the patient involvement/democratization of healthcare delivery and creation of VALUE for other under-used health Professions, focus on other ecosystems apart from the patients, such as Volunteer networks and Provider networks. We also focus on automating clinic information sessions.

Focus on the patient, patient engagement, behaviour support, health information makes our solution unique, affordable and accessible to low-income economies.
 
While our competitors focuse on Providers, we connect the dots (focus on all the ecosystem and include ALL health professionals and volunteers;
Competitors focused on treatment, we focus on PREVENTIVE CARE but make connection to other forms of care, available.
Our targeting adolescents for reproductive Health Education is also a major asset to bridging existing gaps and further addressing the causes of maternal mortality in Nigeria/Africa.
Other features that make our solution unique include:

Automation of clinic information sessions
Focus on Patient involvement in care & behaviour support
Focus on Patient-provider relationship & health-seeking behaviour/demand for skilled care
Focus on (better) health outcomes 

I work with stakeholders on identifying a need and together we work as a team, which includes the target community or market. Solutions are products of thorough research and design thinking processes.

I and my team are currently building a digital (reproductive health) platform to address maternal mortality in low-income economies.

Our methods are effective and engaging because we involve the clients/target community from the start to identify both the needs and a sustainable solution.