Together for Her and Myna Mahila Foundation to improve access to affordable maternal care in low-income areas

Together for Her, a maternal healthcare programme developed by Avegen, and Myna Mahila Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO, have announced a partnership to improve access to affordable maternal care and reduce maternal mortality in low-income areas.

Together for Her will train the health workers in maternal healthcare and the health workers, in turn, will educate women about the importance of quality maternal care. The health workers will collect reviews about their delivery experience and ensure that they get access to the Together for Her Mothers app. The app enables women to choose a healthcare provider based on real ratings from other mothers.

Together for Her will introduce Myna Mahila Foundation maternity pads to mothers who have signed up for its care packages, supporting affordable postpartum care. The collaboration will start with a pilot across 12 slums in Mumbai. “India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and majority of women do not get antenatal care. Most of the causes for maternal deaths are preventable if women have access to affordable, good quality maternal healthcare and reliable information,” says Anne Reijns, Director, Together for Her at Avegen. “We are very excited to partner with Myna Mahila Foundation to broaden the reach of maternal healthcare education. Together, we will make sure more women get access to not only information, but most importantly access to quality healthcare.”

Together for Her has already reached more than 30,000 reviews via their online review system allowing pregnant women to choose their hospital of delivery based on the ratings of other women. They also collaborate with more than 1,000 hospitals, which are using their reviews to act on feedback and improve their quality of care.

There is a large Facebook community of over 78,000 followers where we share verified information on various maternal care topics. “In our mission to empower women to get a voice about issues that matter to them, we are always looking for the right partners. Together for Her enables pregnant women to make informed choices about their care. Through our partnership, we want to make reliable pregnancy-related information accessible to women living in low-income pockets”, says Suhani Jalota, Founder, Myna Mahila Foundation. “Jointly, we aim to increase access to the appropriate maternal and postpartum care to women.”