Winning the Iolanthe Opoku Award has been a wonderful and amazing honour.
I have been able to begin to really invest in my pregnancy wellness web app project and innovation that I am creating called Amai-Mtoto (meaning mother and child taken from the Swahili and Shona language native to my heritage).
I’m hoping that this web-app will help get valuable pregnancy wellness information for Black and Mixed heritage women through parent education, exercise, cultural foods, mental wellness and a forum that can bring people together. I want to offer empowerment and support which hopefully help reduce the statistics of being four times more likely to die in childbirth.
By having ways of keeping healthy with trusted evidenced-based, relatable and accessible information, which can help women take ownership of their health through their pregnancy journey and beyond.
Representation holds significant importance within the Black and Mixed heritage community, so crafting content specifically made for them by someone who understands their culture and values fosters a sense of connection and belonging.
This inclusivity will hopefully encourage active engagement and participation in the content provided, and my expectation is for the web app to be a useful tool which can also be used by midwifery staff either in the community or in the hospital.
My primary focus during this time since being awarded the funding has been on curating essential Parent Education content, covering topics such as 'The Signs of Labour,' 'The Stages of Labour,' 'Signs of a good Latch,' and 'How to change a Nappy.' These resources will be integrated into my web app to ensure that women and their families have instant access to crucial information around the clock via their phone or computer.
Throughout this process, I've come to appreciate the considerable effort required to produce concise, informative videos. Each minute of the footage made demanded a lot of planning, from initial storyboarding to final production. Given the vast scope of midwifery, I had to carefully select which topics to prioritize for the webapp, focusing on those deemed most vital for its users and continue to do so.
After conducting thorough research on existing platforms, I was able to gain valuable insights into how best to engage my audience. Armed with this knowledge, I managed to write some scripts to ensure my content remained focused and timely. With the funding I was able to buy and utilize a high-quality 4K camera recording and professional lighting, so that my films looked polished, and with a professional aesthetic.
Props were also bought with the funding such as dolls by MamaAmor Dolls and visuals by IPLBChildbirthEd representing the community, plus a placenta for demonstration purposes (which will be also used for face-to-face parent education workshops in the future) were used to provide visual demonstrations, enhancing the educational experience.
With some previous knowledge I was able to edit my videos, learning to refine footage, adding music, and incorporating creative elements. Crafting 7-minute videos proved to be a time-intensive endeavour, demanding patience and meticulous analysis to ensure alignment with audience needs. Despite the challenges, I found immense satisfaction in the creative process, knowing that my efforts would benefit my community.
Looking ahead, I'm eager and keen to expand my content to encompass exercise routines, culturally nutritious recipes for pregnancy, and birth preparation. This project marks just the beginning of my commitment to creating a web app that fosters a sense of belonging for Black and Mixed heritage women, to help them take ownership of their health during their pregnancy journey and beyond, resonating as a product made by and for their community.