Breakthrough Award Winner Spotlight:
How This Start-Ups Holistic View of Pregnancy is Shaping Care for Mother and Baby
Lasya Ampaty • October 19, 2022
A woman may receive the most medical attention in her whole life during pregnancy; however, screening for a mother’s mental health often slips through the fingers of many providers. For many mothers, having a baby comes with a roller coaster of hormonal changes that can trigger anxiety and depression. Although the providers often treat the physical symptoms of pregnancy, such as morning sickness or body aches, they fail to acknowledge the stress and isolation that can arise during pregnancy. After seeing a plethora of providers and failing to find a solution, Maureen Fura created Mammha to be a system-wide solution to screen pregnant women and support them in all stages of their pregnancy.
Mammha is a simple, yet effective tool for doctors and healthcare providers to support mothers experiencing emotional complications during pregnancy and post-partum. Fura designed Mammha to lift the stigma and promote wellness for new mothers who are afraid to speak up about their mental health. Mammha strives to integrate technology seamlessly into healthcare to make that first step of seeking help easier for new mothers. Women screened with Mammha are 5 times more likely to engage in care and feel better on an average of 7 days. If maternal mental health is ignored, it can cost up to $14.2billion annually in the US as it affects both the mother and the baby.Ultimately, Fura hopes to utilize Mammha to create a gold standard for mental health screening in pregnant women.
On average, Fura states that only 3 to 6% of providers screen for maternal mental health. Mammha tackles the nationwide problem and aims to increase the number of women getting screened for emotional complications. Instead of bombarding therapists, Mammha Care Coordinators tailor the needs of each mother and provide resources, such as taking blood pressure or blood glucose, connecting them with a doctor, or simply leading them to a support group. Mammha acts as a one-stop-shop for new mothers taking the burden off their shoulders to make their journey into motherhood smoother. By doing so, Mammha will cut down annual costs, create stronger bonds between mothers and babies, and improve provider-patient interaction.
By tackling maternal mental health from the start, Mammha aims to improve generational health outcomes, such as increased literacy rates or reduced anxiety in children, which are linked to the bond between mothers and babies. In turn, reducing the stressors of pregnancy results in emotionally present and responsive mothers. While it currently focuses on maternal mental health, Mammha hopes toe xpand into non-perinatal women, teens, and children’s mental health hoping to break down the stigma across generations. Fura anticipates gaining partners and investors to advance Mammha in the healthcare field to close gaps between providers and patients. However, Mammha’s most important purpose is to give pregnant women an opportunity to voice their emotional needs while creating a miracle.
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