No human life is too big to be saved and none too small to be lost. All human lives are equally valuable. Natal Cares says NO to maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria
- Uche K. Udekwe
ABOUT NATAL CARES
Natal Cares is a social enterprise that provides an all-inclusive innovative solution to prevent maternal and infant mortality by leveraging of the power of mobile technology and low cost innovation providing comprehensive support for mothers from pregnancy through baby’s first three years and parents feel supported and cared for at vulnerable times specifically focusing on pregnant women and Nursing mothers in IDP Camps and Rural Under-served communities in Nigeria.
MISSION
To harness the power of mobile technology/low cost innovation and provide lifesaving health care information and services to pregnant women and Nursing mothers especially in IDP Camps and under-served communities
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
According to UNICEF “Every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 children under five and 145 women of childbearing age. This makes the country the second largest contributor to the under–five and maternal mortality rate in the world.” up to 85% of this mortality occurs in rural under-served communities and IDP camps because of THREE Major reasons; The massive broken healthcare chain, the broken healthcare information gap and the several unhealthy delivery practices in these vulnerable communities: Having identified the causes, we know these deaths are preventable.
VISION
To become a global company leading the use of reliable mobile technology and Low Cost Innovations and contribute to reducing maternal and infant mortality rate in Africa.
WHAT SERVICES ARE WE OFFERING
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Health Care Information
We provide pregnant women and nursing mothers with vital lifesaving health information, reminders, anti natal care checkups and medical advice in other to improve their health and that of their babies
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Mother and Child
We provide a platform where you can join millions of mothers all over the world, sharing awesome experience on child nurturing & its difficulties, and gain great nurturing insights with ever ready healthcare professional and doctors on standby to answer your complex & unanswered question.
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Doctor referrals
We help pregnant women monitor and track possible symptoms that may occur during each pregnancy month. We help Mothers get immediate referrals to reputable health centers and Doctors if symptoms indicate a health risk.
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Natal Cares kit
We provide basic, inexpensive Delivery Kit containing essential supplies required at childbirth to ensure a clean, safe and hygienic delivery to help mothers and newborns avoid acquiring infections during childbirth especially in IDP Camps and disconnected rural communities.
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Capacity building/Training
We carry out health care capacity buildings and sensitization programs in IDP Camps and disconnected rural communities. We also train traditional birth attendants and local midwives on latest delivery methods and technique.
MEET THE TEAM
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Uche Kenneth Udekwe
Founder/CEO
Uche Kenneth Udekwe is a Social Entreprenuer, an SDG Advocate, Founder/CEO of NATAL CARES. He is a mobile health enthusiast with great passion in Public health and ICT4D. Uche has a variety of experience: He is An Ashoka ChangeMakerXchange Fellow, LEAP AFRICA Fellow and Tony Elumelu Foundation Fellow. An EDC (Enterprise Development Center), and YALI Alumni. Uche,s Motivation and passion in the Maternal and Infant Healthcare sector arose a couple of years ago when he lost his childhood friend/sister-in-law at childbirth due to neo-natal mortality, it was one of the ugliest moments in his life. Since then, he has dedicated himself to take action to put an end to maternal and child deaths or at least reduce them to the barest minimum.
Uche runs NATAL CARES, A social enterprise that primarily focuses on providing health care, medical monitoring and emergency services to at-risk pregnant women, reaching them in their hometowns and villages and advocating for better access to healthcare at primary healthcare centres.
Having an excellent Human Relation and communication skills, Uche can speak SIX major Nigerian languages (English, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Pidgin and Sign Language) fluently. He is very passionate about DESIGN THINKING and ICT especially using ICT for social good. In recognition of his outstanding impacts through NATAL CARES, He was awarded the prestigious: FUTURE AWARDS AFRICA 2018 on ADVOCACY. The following year, he was selected as a Nominee for Future Awards Africa "YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR" He was also awarded The 2018 YALI Leadership Award in Health and Well-Being, AFRICA 35.35 Award and 2019 ACT FOUNDATION ChangeMakers Innovation Prize Awardee. In 2019, he was personally awarded the "Africa Innovate for SDGs Award" by the President of Ghana (His Excellency Mr Nana Akufo-Addo)
Uche is an avid lover of classical music especially Mozart and Handel’s music. He is a certified Pianist and Trombonist. A chief Organist in the Apostolic Faith Choir and Orchestra since 2004. Usually, Uche relaxes on the Piano by playing Handel and Mozart Pieces. -
Charles Nnamdi
CTO
Engineer Charles Nnamdi is a Masters degree Holder in Electrical and Electronics from the Federal University of Technology Akure(FUTA). He is an Innovator and the Chief Technology Officer at NATAL CARES. Engineer Charles is a Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Alumni, Autumn School of Sustainable Development Alumni and a YALI Alumni. He is particularly passionate about solving social problems using ICT. A lover of new technologies and innovative trends as well as always seeking to improve his skills with every project done. Charles is an Addict Reader and a huge fan of Classical Music. He is also an accomplished Pianist
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Sumonu A.O
Director of medicals
Mrs Sumonu AO is a Masters Degree holder in Public Administration. A certified Nurse and midwife with over 25 years’ experience in public health. She is head of Medicals NATAL CARES.
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Joy Chioma
Co-Founder/Head of Operations
Joy is the Co-Founder and Head of Operations at Natal Cares. Having carried out her National Youth Service (NYSC) in a rural community Adamawa State Nigeria, she had first-hand experience of what pregnant women and nursing mothers face during and after pregnancy. Since then, she has developed an undying passion to use the power of mobile technology and low cost innovations in bridging the healthcare gap between rural under-served communities and the Urban Communities of Nigeria.
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Igwekalor C Happiness
SPC (Northern Region)
Mrs Igwekalor Hapiness is a Senior Program Coordinator (Northern Region) of Natal Cares. She Provides leadership and coordinates support for expanded Natal Cares solutions to support Nigeria towards ending the infant and maternal mortality epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. She spearheads the promotion of effective use of strategic information and documentation of trends on the epidemic and the response to providing intellectual leadership on the status of the response to reducing infant and maternal mortality in the country.
Mrs Igwekalor has a Higher education training on accounting practices as well as a Post-secondary paraprofessional certification in work related areas. Already, she has Six years' experience in secretarial and administrative positions, including experience in dealing with administrative issues, Managing performance and resources as well as Developing and empowering others. Her Core Competencies includes effectively teams work, efficient communicating at impact, Delivering results, Driving change, innovation and accountability. -
SUKANMI IJATUYI
ICT Team lead
Sukanmi Ijatuyi is the Software Team Lead at Natal Cares. Having about 7 years Experience in the world of programming, He has more than 2 Years experience in development with PHP and 1 years Experience in Cross-Platform Mobile Development with Apache Cordova/Ionic, 1 year of Web development with Laravel and Vue.JS, 3 years software application development with .NET, Angular, CI/CD, and Agile/SCRUM.
Sukanmi is a Passionate developer and designer focused on making advancement in the world of technology. He is always interested in developing for the enterprise.
He hopes to secure a position where he can efficiently contribute his innovative skills and creative abilities to the growth of the organization and build his professional career.
ADVISORY BOARD
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Dr Ebenezer Oniya
Business mentor and coach
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Dr Akpan Vincent
H.O.D Department of biomedical science FUTA
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Dr Aisha Abdulkareem
MBBS, MSc. PH(Health Management) Associate Fellow, NPMCN
Testimonial
Mrs dosunmu
- Kano
Your messages are really awesome, every week of my pregnancy, I already know what symptoms to expect and how to be prepared for it. Great job Natal Cares.
Mrs Ayeni
- Kano
Your messages are extra-ordinary. The symptoms of pre-natal conditions you send to me every week are completely on point. Wow!
Mrs Damilola
- Lagos
My wife forgets a lot but with your timely messages, she never forgets her ante-natal dates anymore. Great job Natal Cares
Mrs Toyin fafila
- Ondo
All I can say is that you guys are doing a great job Natal Cares. The fact that the messages are sent in my own language makes it extra-ordinary. Great job guys
Mrs Ibitoye
- Akure
I really love the design of your Delivery Kit, it’s one of a kind. Nice concept guys. Keep it up.
Mrs Toyin
- Akure
Thanks so much Natal Cares for your healthcare messages, now I don’t have to believe in fables and superstitions regarding pregnancy anymore.
Mrs Godiya
- Lagos
I just love the simplicity of your weekly healthcare messages. It is so easy to understand. Great job you guys are doing. Cheers.
RECOGNITION
PRESIDENT OF GHANA AWARD
The Co-Chair of the Group of Eminent Advocates for the SDGs (SDG Advocates) and President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, launched the “Africa Innovates for the SDGs Award” for a new generation of early-stage social innovators in Africa who are solving problems in the SDGs’ focus areas. The award aims to put a spotlight on “SDG innovators” and raise awareness around their work. In 2019, NATAL CARES won the maiden edition of the award.
The Future Awards Africa, also known as The Future Awards, are a set of awards given by The Future Project (TFP). The awards celebrate young people between the ages of 18 and 31, who have made outstanding achievement in the year. Forbes has described the awards as “Most important awards for outstanding young Africans” NATAL CARES won The 2018 Future Awards in Health Advocacy.
