In Kenya, the vast majority of antenatal care (ANC) records are kept on paper in the ‘Mother & Child Health Handbook'. Paper records can be lost or are difficult to read and do not lend themselves to an easy flow of information through the health system. This can result in fragmented care for many expectant mothers.

IntelliSOFT developed an app called 'Mama's Hub', powered by Open Health Stack's Android FHIR SDK, in collaboration with a consortium of partners including Kabarak and Strathmore Universities, the Technical University of Mombasa and e-Med Solutions. Mama's Hub allows community health workers to record details from an antenatal encounter on an Android smartphone and generate electronic referrals to a health facility. This begins a connected journey where the mother, clinic, community health worker, and even trusted family members are able to access the appropriate information through Mama's Hub.

Open Health Stack helped IntelliSOFT to build the first version of this application in under 3 months (versus an estimated 9 months to build from scratch). Instead of dealing with foundational app infrastructure, IntelliSOFT was able to focus on building unique value-adding features for their patient population like integrating blood pressure readings. Since the app is based on the FHIR standard and is offline-capable, the information is stored securely in a way that can be accessed by different clinics or different applications.

Mama's Hub is currently in the pilot phase, with over 50 registered nurses and community health workers using the tool, and a growing number of mothers registered and referred. Digitizing the previously paper-based records means that the health facility and Ministry of Health can view real-time information about referral flows and case-mix. Having a digital referral form (that can be adapted easily) also ensures that the quality of referrals is consistent across the region. The healthcare providers are able to access the client's information with ease and can make informed decisions on the mother's continuum of care.

The goal is to completely digitize the Mother & Child Health Handbook into Mama's Hub. The app will then include Postnatal Care workflows and advice. There is also a plan to integrate WHO SMART Guidelines content for antenatal care and to integrate with the electronic Community Health Information System. Long term, IntelliSOFT will build out a holistic digital view of the patient's journey (both mother & child) through antenatal, postnatal, newborn care & immunization.