Digital Assisted Midwifery

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Current Status: Midwifery & Reproductive Health

According to research by the WHO, 80% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths worldwide could have been averted by the service of a professional midwife.

Yet, midwives are either vastly underrepresented or they are facing other struggles that hinder them to save these lives. Those struggles vary from financial burden to physical and psychological exhaustion, to sexual harassment.

Certified midwives have a similar curriculum to obstetricians and gynecologists yet these traits of a midwife nor their importance in history and presence are widely unknown.

The WHO is on the mission to educate 9,000,000, additional professional midwives, and nurses, by 2030.

COVID-19 has altered or reversed this progress.

Health data collected during pregnancy often get lost or diluted between pregnancy and growing up. Some but not all countries are already addressing this issue.

Midwives find it a lot harder to get proper insurance than other professions.

Statistical data between institutions is currently inconsistent and lags behind.

(Image Source: <https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal3>)

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Image File

Our Approach

The big Goal: Increasing the Reach and Efficiency in Midwifery

We are building a digital platform that seeks to strengthen the reach of midwives and other health personnel to reduce mortality in reproductive health.

We have already begun researching, creating content, and building the team and are currently backing the project with our family business. We hope this Catalyst fund will help us kickstart the launch to become self-sustaining while being able to create new jobs.

We have developed strategies to foster sustainability after a kickstart from Catalyst.

If we have reached sustainability we want to form a foundation for the perpetual cause. At some point, to foster sovereignty, and decentralization we believe it would be the right step to hand operations and governance over to the midwives.

Furthermore, we're planning to instantiate a financial model to leverage spillovers from western midwives to provide free infrastructure for midwives in less developed countries.

We believe that a system in solidarity will be key here.

Information and Communication Hub (This Fund) Web-Version

The platform enables midwives to connect with women of childbearing age, pregnant women, and new mothers in order to provide education and support around sexual and reproductive health.
The platform provides a digital maternity log
Support on a generic and individual level
The platform provides a space for midwives to share knowledge and resources with each other, as well as connect with other entities in reproductive health.
We provide information related to midwifery on a daily basis so midwives do not have to search for it.
We're using the website, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and potentially TickTock.

Onboarding from offline to Cardano (This fund)

We have created a child book, a second one is almost finished.
Both books relate to the outline and are here to create awareness.
We will sell 5000 books of the print version at a higher price as the second type of funding.
These books include a key to receive a founder NFT for later Airdrops.
The online version of the books will be available for free and with audio on the website, so that the less privileged and also the illiterate can benefit from the book, too.

Adding Plutus and App developers for native and dApp (as an outcome of the book sales)

The funding from the book sales should allow adding developers to our team.
The funding should allow adding more content creators to our team
The funding should allow for the ISPO to keep the project sustainable, secure the network and allow to explore and develop the private network to store the health records safely.

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Expected Outcomes (short and long-term)

Challenge Settings are addressed by

Adding another real-world use case to Cardano
Adding a new native token to the ecosystem
Providing NFTs for Airdrop
Providing NFTs for governance
Onboarding new users to Cardano with DID and SSI
Together with Proofspace, we are currently exploring a collaboration to integrate Blockpass
Potential cross-chain use of e.g. Arweave for 2d/3d-Animations

Midwifery: Improving the current situation by

Leveraging technology to increase the reach of midwives
Leveraging technology to increase focus care on crucial cases
Leveraging technology to rebalance the workload for midwives
Facilitating the global connection aside from special events
Democratizing the decision process for midwifery knowledge distribution
Creating an internationally accepted digital maternity log
Preserving knowledge free, forever, and decentralized on the blockchain
If the token rises in value, then midwives could financially benefit from it

Pregnant, mothers, and newborns and their future selves: Improving the situation for

Unlocking the midwifery service to the financially disadvantaged
providing base information for medicine (antenatal)
creating DIDs for mothers and newborns where the administration is weak
creating a private ledger with pre- and post-birth health records

Governments, Insurances, Healthcare institutions, and Science

Providing an open API for healthcare and science
Providing continuously up-to-date and more accurate anonymized data
Providing data for diseases that could not be addressed, because of broken health records

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Novel and viable applications and products get built on top of Cardano attracting users. Integrations manage to pull in more adoption.

We are in the realms of digital health, governance and decentralized sovereignty.

The first is addressed by the creation of a native token and NFTs on Cardano.

The latter includes decentralized identities (DID) and self-sovereign identities (SSI).

Creation or improvement of different Dapps, products, and integrations that provide value to the Cardano community and wider ecosystem.

Midwives can potentially KYC mothers and onboard them into DID and / SSI
We have partnered with NOWPayments to allow payments in Fiat being converted into ADA.
Integration of Blockpass (partnered with Emurgo) for KYC
Bridging with Blockfrost

Integrations with other existing services, products, and protocols that improve the end-user experience whether that's giving the user more options or making something easier to use that benefits the wider ecosystem.

Together with the teams of Atala Prism, Blockpass, and Proofspace, we are currently exploring the feasibility to realize such a flow.
We will integrate with Lace Wallet as it will be Wallet and Storage for NFTs and DIDs.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Risk I: Lack of Adoption

Midwives and mothers could refrain from using digital midwifery/ blockchain technology.

DGHWI (German Midwifery Society of Science) has researched, that with COVID-19 the mentality has shifted towards the adoption of digital health. We're working with midwives already to make sure, that UX is seamless.

Book publishing is delayed.

Due to current supply chain issues, the book printing as a funding could take longer than expected.

However, it is not uncommon to have a preorder list with a waiting time.

We will get the delivery date as soon as we order the books, so the delivery time can be properly communicated.

Books won't be bought.

We developed the first book with our own kids and positively tested the books at nurseries.

Risk II: Environment or Technology not ready

Regulatory issues

We are currently crafting the whitepaper to address the concerns of official institutions.

Digital health is generally widely adopted. Our advisors are deeply rooted in the medical environment.

Some countries have already implemented the adaption of blockchain technologies in their agendas.

Decentralized technology won't be ready by the time of app launch.

We can bridge parts centralized as beta. For now, people are used to centralized services, and amongst the target group decentralization is not seen as an urgent key value yet.

When decentralization (F10 = testnet for DID and SSI) is ready we can transfer data that is meant to be on the public or private ledger over to decentralization.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Agenda (Status as per 1st of August)

[o] = open, not started

[h] = impediment, started but on hold

[w] = work in progress

[c] = completed, process finalized and production-ready

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Roadmap before funding/voting

Most of these milestones are already in place as of 30th June.

Others will be carried out from 4th of July onwards.

[c] Creating ≈28000 inclusive 2d Animations (v.1.2) of embryo in womb, mother in pregnancy
3 different view options
5 different skin tones options
3 different size options
3 different weight options
5 different baby options
[c] Creating 185 inclusive 3d Animations (v.09) of embryo in womb
5 skin tones
2 genders
[c] NFT-Artworks and templates for generation
[c] Clinic/ Birth Translation Cards for labour
[c] Creating a psychological framework to counteract burnout (v.06)
[w] Creating a default database of currently +1400 questions related to pregnancy
[w] Translating default database of questions into 6 languages
[w] Creating an audio version of the default database of questions
[w] Translation of audio version of the default database of questions into 6 languages
[c] Book #1: the baby counting book
[c] Book #2 - Artwork: look who is bringing the babies
[w] Book #2 - Layouting: look who is bringing the babies
[c] Website, Social Media: Conception and Template engine v.1
[c] UI-Design Dashboard
[w] development of the actual, protected communication platform
[c] Patreon Site
[c] NOWPayments integration
[c] getting proposals for book publishing
[c] Registering Stakepool to Mainnet
[w] Publishing articles starting from 4th July
[w] Whitepaper
[w] digital maternity log
[o] Starting Marketing campaigns for book #1
[w] Exploring blockfrost

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Roadmap after funding/voting

Month 1

Continuation of the tasks of the pre-funding roadmap
[w] (Wibke, Marcus, Katy, Joscha) digital maternity log
[w] (Marcus, Thorsten, Katy, Joscha) Whitepaper, further Tokenomics
[o] (Marcus, AtalaPrism) exploring Privacy Chain
[w] (Marcus, AtalaPrism, Blockpass, Proofspace) Exploring dID and SSI
[w] (Marcus, Thorsten, AtalaPrism) Exploring KYC compliance (Blockpass) and SSI integration (Proofspace)
[w] (Wibke, Alex) publishing book #1 online version with audio
[h] (Marcus, Alex) ordering book #1 paper version
[w] (Wibke, Marcus, Katy, Carolin, Marta) content creation, social media, promoting Stakepool
[w] (Marta, Marcus) exploring Blockfrost
[w] (Marta, Marcus) test and create minting policies for NFTs
[o] (Marta, Wibke) creating an audio version of the website
[w] (Marcus, Marta, Katy, Wibke) development of backend
[o] (Marcus, Marta, Katy, Wibke) Native Application Layout
[o] (Wibke, Marcus, Katy, Marta, Carolin) creating onboarding procedures
[h] (Alex) Updating to 3d Animations v.1

Month 2

Continuation of the tasks of month 1
[w] (Marcus, Thorsten, Katy, Joscha) Whitepaper, further Tokenomics
[o] (Marcus, AtalaPrism) exploring Lace wallet, Privacy Chain
[w] (Marcus, AtalaPrism, Blockpass, Proofspace) Exploring dID and SSI
[w] (Wibke, Marcus, Katy, Carolin, Marta) content creation, social media, promoting Stakepool
[o] (Marcus, Wibke, Katy) marketing book #1 paper version
[o] (Wibke, Marta, Alex) publishing book #1 online version with audio
[o] (Marcus, Wibke, Katy) marketing book #2 paper version
[h] (Marcus, Alex) ordering book #2 paper version
[o] (Marta, Marcus) pushing Animations to Arweave
[w] (Marta, Marcus) exploring Blockfrost
[w] (Marcus, Marta, Katy, Wibke) development of backend
[o] (Wibke, Marcus, Katy, Marta, Carolin) creating onboarding procedures
[o] (Marcus, Marta, Katy, Wibke) Native Application Layout
[h] (Alex) Updating to 3d Animations v.1

Month 3

Continuation of the tasks of month 2
[w] (Marcus, Thorsten, Katy, Joscha) Whitepaper
[w] (Marcus, AtalaPrism, Blockpass, Proofspace) Exploring dID and SSI
[w] (Marcus, AtalaPrism) exploring Privacy Chain
[o] (Wibke, Alex, Marcus) publishing book #1 paper version
[o] (Wibke, Alex, Marcus publishing book #2 paper version
[w] (Wibke, Marcus, Katy, Carolin, Marta) content creation, social media, promoting Stakepool
[w] (Marcus, Marta, Katy, Wibke) development of backend
[o] (Marta, Marcus) exploring Blockfrost, Vasil-Hardfork
[o] (Marta, Marcus) preparing NFT-Launch
[o] (Marcus, Marta) Preparing ISPO
[o] (Marcus, Marta, Katy, Wibke) Native Application Layout
[o] (Alex) Updating to 3d Animations v.1

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Image File (3d Render. Within the platform you will be able to freely move around the baby)

We are using an average rate of $ 22,58 including insurance and taxes for our employees.

Advisors will have a payout structure based on issued tokens, deducted from the team.

Total issued tokens for the team should not exceed 6,5% (including advisors, and liquidity reserve as the deducted sum of 40% of the team tokens) of the total issued tokens. Team tokens will be vesting schedule follows the issuing schedule. We are assuming that around 67% of all tokens will be issued at the token launch. The whitepaper will elaborate further.

Budgeting Month 1 (648 hours, $‎ 23810)

infrastructure (20 hours + 1000 $ Hardware) 1647 $
digital maternity log (50 hours) 1630 $
development of backend / front end (76 hours) 2422 $
test and create minting policies for NFTs (20 hours) 342 $
Native Application Layout (56 hours) 1412 $
Updating to 3d Animations v.1 (159 hours) 2161 $
content creation, social media, promoting Stakepool (178 hours) 4774 $
creating onboarding procedures (20 hours) 551 $
creating an audio version of the website (18 hours) 425 $
publishing book #1 online version with audio (24 hours) 671 $
ordering 3000 books #1 (5 hours + 6260 $ printing costs) 6364 $
Whitepaper, further Tokenomics (15 hours) 485 $
exploring KYC compliance, Privacy Chain, Exploring dID and SSI (7 hours) 226 $
Miscelaneus 700 $

Budgeting Month 2 (648 hours, $ 29310)

infrastructure (15 hours + 1000 $ Hardware) 1485 $
digital maternity log (30 hours) 975 $
development of backend / front end (101 hours) 2861 $
pushing Animations to Arweave (26 hours) 3934 $
Native Application Layout (20 hours) 548 $
Updating to 3d Animations v.1 (155 hours) 2032 $
content creation, social media, promoting Stakepool (178 hours) 4774 $
creating onboarding procedures (38 hours) 1144 $
publishing book #1 online version with audio (44 hours) 1329 $
ordering 3000 books #2 paper version (6 hours + 6260 $ printing costs) 6346 $
Whitepaper, further Tokenomics (20 hours) 647 $
exploring KYC compliance, Privacy Chain, Exploring dID and SSI, Lace Wallet (10 hours) 323 $
Miscelaneus 700 $
Legal Counsil (5 hours) 2162 $

Budgeting Month 3 (648 hours, $‎ 17950)

infrastructure (20 hours + 1400 $ Hardware) 2.047 $
digital maternity log (40 hours) 1.304 $
development of backend / front end (87 hours) 2.532 $
Native Application Layout (21 hours) 481 $
Updating to 3d Animations v.1 (164 hours) 2.150 $
content creation, social media, promoting Stakepool (159 hours) 4.160 $
creating onboarding procedures (33 hours) 1.043 $
creating an audio version of the website (12 hours) 353 $
preparing NFT-Launch (30 hours) 569 $
preparing ISPO (32 hours) 994 $
Whitepaper, further Tokenomics (25 hours) 808 $
exploring KYC compliance, Privacy Chain, Exploring dID and SSI, Vasil (25 hours) 808 $
Miscelaneus 700 $

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Marcus Ubani (Co-Founder, CEO / CTO)

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-m-ubani/>

Father of 4. Socialpreneur, deeply rooted in the service industry. Went from Spa-industry to creating a business around Webhosting, and digital Agency.

MA Marketing, BA international management, background in legal, design thinking, full-web-stack.

Active member of the German Society of Science in Midwifery, active member at the Institute for the Alternative Theory of Economy, Member of Nursing and Midwifery Global Community of Practice

Worked with various APIs, also in finance and transportation.

Has attracted big brands through solutions-based marketing strategies.

Wibke Ubani (Co-Founder, HR, Customer Success)

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/wibke-ubani-9445a213a/>

Mother of 4. Socialpreneur, deeply rooted in the hospitality industry.

Learned HR and customer care from the ground up in the family business, which attracted well-known politicians and celebrities.

Has attracted big brands through solutions-based marketing strategies.

Marta Portella Gonzales (Design, Frontend, NFTs, Video-production)

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-portela-gonzalez/>

Rooted in esports, Marta is a versatile all-rounder.

We hired her in 2021.

Alex Barzallo Monseratte (Junior Design, Artworks)

Former design intern, now very creative junior Designer

Katy Mann (Advisor - Midwifery)

<https://glueckskinder-hebamme.de/de-hebammen-praxis-melle>

Two children
09/1986-08/1989 three-year training as a midwife at the Frauenklinik Erfurt (MH Erfurt)
09/1989-12/1991 employed midwife at the Frauenklinik Eisenach (Wartburg-Klinikum)
01/1992-06/2004 employed midwife in the delivery room of the Marienhospital Osnabrück
07/2004-06/2018 Midwife at Halle Hospital
07/2004-06/2018 Member of the Halle/Westphalia Midwifery Community
07/2014-today own midwifery practice
07/2021-today teaching midwifery at the University of Bielefeld

Carolin Göring (Advisor - Midwifery)

I work at Bielefeld Mitte Hospital and have Glückskinder birth preparation course there and in the practice. I am also a freelancer and look after the women during pregnancy and in the puerperium.

I also teach emergency and paramedics in gynecology and obstetrics at the Maltese rescue service school in Nellinghof.

Dr. med. Joscha Beek (Advisor - Gynecology and Obstetrics, Health infrastructure)

<http://praxis-dr-beek.com/vita/>

Father of 3
DEGUM Level I Gynecology and Obstetrics since 2015 (current preparation DEGUM level II)
Certificate for the first trimester screening with neck fold measurement according to FMF Germany since 2016
Certificate First Trimester Scan for Triosomy (11-13 week scan) of FMF London since 2017
Long-standing speaker and trainers since 2013 at the district hall driver's license (CTG training, fit for the district sal)
Senior physician at the Christian Hospital Melle since 2016- Weekly birth planning and surgery planning consultation
Psychosomatic primary care in gynaecology and obstetrics since 2012
Colposcopy base diploma according to AGCPC since 2011
Antibiotic Stewardship Representative (ABS) Christian Hospital Melle
Quality Management Representative Christian Hospital Melle

Dr. rer. pol. Thorsten Junkermann (Advisor - Hospitals, Economics, Health infrastructure)

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/thorsten-junkermann-564593122/>

Managing Director of different Hospitals
Hospital management, hospital information system, controlling
active member at the Institute for the Alternative Theory of Economy
One success story of his many
Restructuring of the business area with 6 hospital and 4 hospice locations
Merger of hospitals under the sponsorship at the locations - d Kreuznach/Kirn, Simmern/Hsr., Saarbrücken and Neunkirchen
Summary of the central areas of finance, human resources, controlling, hygiene and quality management into the headquarters of the business unit - management with a focus on strategic development
Preparation, preparation of offers and implementation of the takeover of the previous Städtisches Klinikum Neunkirchen gemeinnützige GmbH with subsidiaries - Managing Director of Diakonie Klinikum Neunkirchen gemeinnützige GmbH - Managing Director of MVZ Diakonie Klinikum Neunkirchen gemeinnützige GmbH
Board member of the Krankenhausgesellschaft Rheinland-Pfalz
Board member Krankenhausgesellschaft Saarland
Member of the steering committee project "Optimization of business processes in the Stiftung kreuznacher diakonie"

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Ideally, we would become sustainable after our initiated processes. However, we might have to return to F10 or F11 if we face a slow adoption rate or $ADA drops in price due to Market-conditions.

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Number of books sold
Number of books opened on website
Number of NFTs claimed
Number of midwives onboarded
Number of pregnant onboarded
in-app interactions between midwives and mothers
Number of critical cases recorded
Number of critical cases solved
Number of engaging social media followers
Number of users downloading Lace wallet from our link
Animations pushed to Arweave
later KYC, DIDs, SSI created

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Our longterm-goals are:

Significant reduction of mortality related to pregnancy
Rebalancing midwives' time schedules to prevent burnout and improve efficiency
lowering the accessibility barriers for midwives, pregnants, babies and mothers
Close to 100% network coverage of midwifery for pregnancy-related work
Strengthened awareness and appreciation for midwives and midwife-led care
preserving and improving knowledge around reproductive health
onboarding all midwives for a decentralized governance in midwifery
midwives as a sovereign catalyst for the implementation of DID, SSI, and decentralized digital health records - preferably within the Cardano ecosystem

As a direct result of this funding

increasing awareness of midwifery and midwife-led care (the books will plant the seeds)
getting a kickstart to develop and grow Larissa.Health
creating awareness of Larissa.Health's mission
becoming a catalyst for Cardano, while implementing blockchain not as hype, but as a useful technology

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new project.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

Our project addresses gender equality by being as both founders are equally important while the majority of the team is female. We and our advisors are always trying to bridge gaps in gender inequality.

Midwives in their majority are females. By improving their overall circumstances we're trying to improve their sovereignty through community-led governance, foster additional income, while providing a higher coverage of care for pregnant women, and reduce mortality related to pregnancy.

Technological assisted medical education can help to lower the number of female mutilations and will provide women and newborns at least with basic health care coverage.

We are bridging western wealth to support midwifery in developing countries.

Approximately 27 million men and women make up the global nursing and midwifery workforce. This accounts for nearly 50% of the global health workforce.
There is a global shortage of health workers, in particular nurses and midwives, who represent more than 50% of the current shortage in health workers.
The largest needs-based shortages of nurses and midwives are in South East Asia and Africa.
For all countries to reach Sustainable Development Goal 3 on health and well-being, WHO estimates that the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by the year 2030.
Nurses play a critical role in health promotion, disease prevention and delivering primary and community care. They provide care in emergency settings and will be key to the achievement of universal health coverage.
Achieving health for all will depend on there being sufficient numbers of well-trained and educated, regulated and well supported nurses and midwives, who receive pay and recognition commensurate with the services and quality of care that they provide.
Investing in nurses and midwives is good value for money. The report of the UN High Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth concluded that investments in education and job creation in the health and social sectors result in a triple return of improved health outcomes, global health security, and inclusive economic growth.
Globally, 70% of the health and social workforce are women compared to 41% in all employment sectors. Nursing and midwifery occupations represent a significant share of the female workforce.

Nurses and midwives are central to Primary Health Care and are often the first and sometimes the only health professional that people see and the quality of their initial assessment, care and treatment is vital. They are also part of their local community – sharing its culture, strengths and vulnerabilities – and can shape and deliver effective interventions to meet the needs of patients, families and communities.

SDG Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable

1.4 By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinanc

SDG Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages

SDG 3 includes an ambitious target: “reducing the global Maternal Mortality Rate to less than 70 per 100 000 births, with no country having a maternal mortality rate of more than twice the global average”.

SDG Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

5.1: End discrimination against women and girls
5.2: End all violence against and exploitation of women and girls
5.3: Eliminate forced marriages and genital mutilation
5.4: Value unpaid care and promote shared domestic responsibilities
5.5: Ensure full participation in leadership and decision-making
5.6: Universal access to reproductive rights and health
5.a: Equal rights to economic resources, property ownership and financial services
5.b: Promote empowerment of women through technology
5.c: Adopt and strengthen policies and enforceable legislation for gender equality

SDG Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

SDG Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries

10.a: Implement the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in accordance with World Trade Organization agreements

SDG Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children and young people
16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels
16.9: By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration

bookmarked!