2022 in Review: Events, Content Growth, and Digital Innovation
Dear partners,
As we look back on the past year, I am proud to report that we have made significant strides in building a digital marketplace for health services and products built on the principles of equitable and affordable access to care.
We have established a robust platform that provides a comprehensive suite of services, enabling efficient and accurate access to health care products and services. This has been primarily accomplished through a relentless focus on functionality that allows for personalized health journeys for each individual, based on their needs and readiness to act, that end in referrals for health products and services tailored to the individual.
These efforts have paid off. We have no engaged more than one million people in over three million conversations on various reproductive and maternal health topics, provided actionable insights on how our partners can deliver important therapeutics to market in affordable manner, and have accelerated our progress in facilitating health transactions through our platform. We are proud of the progress we have made in creating a digital marketplace for health services and products that is equitable, accessible, and affordable.
This progress would not be possible without close collaboration with our customers, and partners who work with us to develop medically accurate and culturally relevant content. And finally, and most importantly, we would not be able to do what we do without the hard working, talented, and passionate team that we have at Nivi. We are who we are because of them. So a big thank you to each and every one of you on the Nivi team.
We look forward to accomplishing even greater things in 2023. As I like to say, onwards and upwards!
Cheers,
Sidd
Nivi at UNGA
In September, the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly took place in Manhattan, and Nivi was there to contribute. Of note, Nivi’s upcoming S3C initiative was featured at UNGA 2022, announcing an investment in digital health marketplaces for Assam, a state in northeastern India with a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 195 deaths per 100,000 live births—the highest in the country and over twice the national average, according to the most recent special bulletin released by the Office of the Registrar General, India.
Last year, Nivi launched its massive ANC/PNC Program in Nigeria; 48 weeks of antenatal and postnatal health content that exists simultaneously within Nivi’s chatbot, askNivi, but can be timed to coincide with expecting women and their partners that opt in to guide them through their pregnancy journeys. Beginning at week 10 of pregnancy and continuing through 15 week post-birth, the ANC/PNC Program is a digital intervention aimed at improving health outcomes for mothers and their newborns through automated messages that, in addition to clinic visit reminders and assessments, provide the subscriber with general advice, gestational updates, vaccination needs, breastfeeding guidance, nutrition information, as well as pregnancy and newborn danger signs. So far, the program has been incredibly effective in Nigeria; and next year, Nivi is expanding it to India!
In addition to leveraging investments for good in countries with smaller economies, Nivi’s UNGA announcement highlights the importance of elevating the role of private sector actors in the advancement of public health. In all areas of its work, Nivi strives to serve women equitably, amplify their voices, and reduce negative health outcomes while empowering women and girls to make informed healthcare decisions that benefit their physical and mental wellbeing. The ANC/PNC Program, in particular, is a perfect demonstration of that goal, in action. By giving pregnant women and their partners with the education, guidance, and resources to both anticipate and respond to the health needs of themselves and their families, askNivi provides an innovative tool to any organization seeking to alleviate the disproportionate burden of maternal and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and we look forward to extending those efforts to India. As always, Nivi seeks to set an example for the private sector becoming a powerful force for good.
Malaria in Nigeria
Four countries account for over half of all malaria fatalities, worldwide: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Nigeria. In 2021 alone, 61 million Nigerians were afflicted with malaria and 200,000 were killed by it. Given its heavy burden, Nigeria spends over a billion USD on malaria prevention and treatment, annually; but despite these efforts—as well as the creation of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, in use as of October 2021—the incidence of malaria has been on the rise in recent years for the first time in over a decade.
Given the burden and growing momentum to control and even eradicate the disease, malaria has been a top global health priority this year, and, as of December 2, 2022, Nivi is officially contributing to the fight. In Nigeria, malaria content is now available on the askNivi platform in English and Hausa helping to drive awareness and recommend targeted solutions for Nivi users. askNivi’s malaria content is accessed via the chatbot’s main menu for peak visibility, giving easy access to seven malaria topics in an easy-to-understand and act on format. These malaria topics include: a general overview of malaria, its signs and symptoms, how it spreads, who is at risk, how to prevent it, and malaria testing and treatment. In addition, users can opt to take a malaria myth-busting quiz; a highly engaging series of questions that both educate users as well as alert them to common misconceptions that encourage behavior change. With a close to 90% completion rate, overall, scored quizzes have proven to be immensely useful and effective tools throughout a variety of askNivi’s health areas.
With that level of awareness-building, users will be armed with everything they need to make informed decisions on preventing malaria or finding testing and treatment—connections to both of which are also provided, at each “turn” of the new malaria content. In partnership with Society for Family Health Nigeria (SFH), Nivi is able to offer all its users (confidentially, and for free) referrals for fever consults, malaria counseling, malaria testing, malaria treatment, and maternal malaria consults at a whopping 909 providers. And so, through collaboration and innovation, Nivi has joined the effort to combat yet another one of the most significant public health issues plaguing the region. With more to come!
Journeys: Guiding Users Toward Better Health
New to the askNivi platform this year is a feature designed to accompany individuals on both long- and short-term health journeys; one Nivi is already using to apply to areas such as family planning education, HPV vaccination, and post-abortion contraception uptake. The feature, dubbed “Journeys,” is an incredibly dynamic engine with a few key abilities: assess users to garner useful insights into their needs and desires; to tailor information to users based on those insights; to increase user readiness through encouragement that’s both timed and designed to their specific situation; and to generate referrals to relevant providers and points of care within the health system.
The most exciting part of journeys, perhaps, is that any and all content delivered to the user or made available to them can be personalized through branching, based on any user interaction; whether it be an assessment that reveals knowledge level on a particular health topic, or simple demographics like age or gender. And because interactions can be tailored to user types and profiles in this way, the health education and resources provided to them are better suited to healthcare uptake and behavior change—and that’s what we want! Because improving health outcomes among communities and populations begins with that one, seemingly small step: individuals employing their knowledge and agency to take action in their own lives.
To learn more about what Nivi can do for you, explore below or contact us today!