Women’s Health has increasingly garnered attention, with growing research, investments, and discussions surrounding the topic. Although overall digital health investments experienced a decline last year compared to previous years, the proportion of funds allocated to femtech within the digital health budget has seen an upward trend. However, there is still significant progress to be made. Women’s health encompasses more than just pregnancy care, breast and ovarian cancer, or fertility. It also includes addressing gender-based violence and promoting pleasure. In today’s episode, we will be hearing from Shamala Hinrichsen – Founder and CEO – Hanai, an application providing reliable health information to the underserved communities in Malaysia and Africa and Mariatheresa Samson Kadushi – Founder and CEO of Mobile Afya – the first USSD application in Africa using internet-free mobile technology to provide basic health information in local and native languages starting with Swahili in Tanzania, East Africa. 

Mariatheresa and Shamala were already on Faces of digital health in 2021:

Tune in:

F126 How is Tradition Hindering Health Literacy in Kenya, Tanzania and Malaysia? (Shamala Hinrichsen, Mariatheresa Samson Kadushi): 

https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/women-health-africa-malaysia-mobile-afya-hanai 

The reason this is important is, that, based on the meeting on this show, Shamala and Mariatheresa are now building a new app together. Sheher app aims to address the gap in knowledge about female health, which goes beyond pregnancy-related issues. They bring medical education and access while also bringing women into the conversation through personal stories validated by medical info. Their team brings cultural diversity as well as generational differences to tackle this broad aspect of women’s health globally. 

More about She Her App: www.sheher.app

Website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Show notes:

Introducing the speakers (00:08-02:49)

Topics covered under Mobile Afia and Hanai (03:33-06:35)

The importance of sharing personal stories backed up by medical information (09:01-14:57)

Differences between the new app and previous projects (15:11-17:48)

Adapting technology to cultural contexts (27:03-31:19)

The impact of the app, investments in research and solutions for femtech (33:05-42:48)