“At least 800 people died around the world because of coronavirus-related misinformation in the first three months of this year, researchers say.”

Up to 5800 were hospitalized due to listening to misinformation.

This was a news report on BBC news that did not surprise us at team Hanai. One of our strongest motivations is to get relevant, medically-validated information to the communities we serve. Well aware of how destructive misinformation can be, team Hanai with the support of its academic partners, government ministries strives to bring only validated information to our women.

Does this mean you should never pay heed to what you read on the news or follow the advise of someone who spouts medical advice? Pay heed, but make sure you check with a medical professional before you actually imbibe anything, or stop taking your prescriptions without checking with your doctor first, or making any lifestyle changes that could affect your health.

Hanai’s Jiwa Ibu app brings you healthcare information specific to our communities in Malaysia and soon we are adding a feature that will enable you to store your health records, prescriptions, appointments. Watch out for the new version!

While were at it, we worked on our website and logo! Check it out and leave us your comments.

From inception to deployment, our advisors have held our hands. Their expertise, presence of mind, good nature, friendships continue to prod us along as we continue on this journey. Hanai has birthed the Jiwa Ibu app, and as we work on improving, reaching further into communities, we are reliant on our advisory board. These indefatigable champions, despite their intense work schedules, lend their time to Hanai, take our calls, answer our emails, and put up with our general needs.

Dr. Reena Rajasuriar and I go back a long way. She is a tireless researcher in infectious diseases, an intensely clever woman who works with the medical faculty in Universiti Malaya. Reena guides Hanai with her insights into the Malaysian and global research scene, the operations involved in country.

Dr. Yolanda Augustin is truly the firecraker that set Hanai’s Jiwa Ibu app off. An oncologist with St Georges University, London, Yo, is a force to be reckoned with. Her almost daily messages with ideas, strategies, connections is a propelling force behind Jiwa Ibu’s reach.

Hedda Pahlson-Moller is a catalyst on all accounts. She oozes sustainability, impact investing, gender equity, among many others. Plus she makes a mean coffee. When I began my journey, Hedda was the first person I spoke to and she continues to keep an eye out for Hanai.

Prof Yvonne Lim, a parasitologist, Deputy Dean, Director of International Research for Universiti Malaya opened our eyes to the intricacies of research within indigenous populations. She is grounded in her research and guides Hanai in doing our work ethically, properly, and is our guide in reaching into academia.

Prof Sanjeev Krishna’s belief in patient empowerment, digital inclusivity, openness in research and collaboration are among the many facets he brings to Hanai. A Professor of Molecular Parasitology and Medicine at St. George’s, University of London’s Centre for Infection, he brings his years of work in malaria in developing countries to the development of Hanai. He has been instrumental in the birth of the Jiwa Ibu app, always listening with both ears and heart.

Prof Adeeba Kamarulzaman is a giant in her field — she leads the medical faculty of medicine in Universiti Malaya and has has dedicated her career to the prevention, treatment and research of infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS. While she is busy, she still takes the time to suggest possible collaborations, take meetings to brainstorm for Jiwa Ibu.

Dr. Guy Hewlett a virologist who switched gears to medical and scientific writing after retiring from his tireless years of pursuing HPV research is the voice that every medical communication needs. “You cannot say it like that!” is something we hear from him often. He brings reason to the content of the app.

Emmanuelle Ragot, Partner Head of Data IP Law, firmly believes in innovation and is supportive of start ups in need of legal advise. “Get it right at the start”. Her in-depth knowledge, passion drives her ability to provide Hanai with our IP rights requirements.

Karthik Muthuswami is a WHO tech engineering consultant who jumped into Hanai to help whip us along in getting our beta version out. His passion for social justice, social impact, working towards a cause are the pillars on which Hanai can lean on for our tech expertise.

Without them, the work we do would be but a fraction of what it is now. We are reliant on these stalwarts in their fields. And humbled by their generosity of the time they give us.

I remember the day of the hackathon, I tried to find reasons to not go — being away from my young boys, fear that everyone would be 17, fear that I would be so out of the tech. But I got there and told myself, at the very least, will offer to make coffee for a team while I learn from them. I presented in a minute what I wanted to work on — empowering women with healthcare information and walked to the slushy machine. We were told to form teams organically.

And organically it did happen. The enigma that is Stephan Krumm walked up to me and said he was intrigued, wanted to learn, worked in healthcare policy, and being an engineer by training had the sense of structure that was needed. We formed a team that went on to win a prize at the hackathon and I sent our team mates on to China, which was part of the wins.

Now, we needed help — I called on people I could trust and admired — Patrizia Luchetta who had been my boss before and is among the best connectors I have ever known immediately worked her magic for Hanai. I looked to Sanjiv Gnaneswaran (he and I go a long way back — a fellow Malaysian, he and I had known each other from Amnesty International activism days) for his insights into risk and governance while leveraging off his growing interest to contribute towards social impact. Serendipitous.

When it comes to data management, there is no one I know better at it than Elisabeth Busch. She and I had worked together back in Germany and I have seen her turn entire company websites around. And I am talking about detailed biotechnology and medical devices. She is also is a stalwart with social impact already with her reach into refugee communities in Germany. What a blessing to work with her again. Just like working again with the man with magic at his fingertips — Vince Chu — a wordsmith and someone I had always been in awe of with his copywriting.

Our interns, where would we be without them. And funnily enough both came to Hanai via children — both Natalia Velasco and Milan von Estorff started off as au pairs and were quickly but surely immersed into Hanai and the production of our app Jiwa Ibu. Talent, grace, tenacity, ability to learn and work with limited time — things that will see these two young champions go on to lead and contribute to the world. There is also a quirky story about how these two are connected from a life before Hanai.

Agnes Kam came into Hanai by her intense campaigning for healthcare rights after the death of her mother who died 28 days postpartum. Already a community champion, Agnes continues to bring the app to a broader reach within her community near Lawas, Malaysia.

Our co-founder Bryan Ly wrestled every bit of code into Jiwa Ibu. He is indefatigable, a magical technologist and I am grateful for his patience with the rest of us philistines as he continues to perfect the product.

Serendipity again when Deepa Shiva connected with me asking about Malaysia. She is the detailed product specialist anyone needs on a project. But hands off, she is Hanai’s co-founder and the energy behind pushing the various aspects that the company and our product needs.

It is a pleasure and honor to work alongside these team mates who have been volunteering their time, their expertise, their souls towards Jiwa Ibu — a mother’s soul.

Any story that starts with a beware of crocodiles has to be a good one? Well, at the very least an interesting one. The Jiwa Ibu healthcare app for women story does not necessarily begin with walking amidst, or above crocodiles, in this case, but it definitely tells the story of how to reach the communities we serve.

Here we walked on elevated planks among the community in Kampung Awat-awat near Lawas, Sarawak, Malaysia. These fisherfolk welcomed us into their homes as they worked away on their haul from the morning. A community that has been marginalised on many accounts, the women, especially said they would benefit from a mobile health application. Mobile phones they have, reception, sometimes wonky, but definitely available.

The Jiwa Ibu healthcare app definitely starts somehow with this woman, Agnes Kam. Her mother died in childbirth delivering her eight child, 28 days postpartum. I had watched Agnes’s documentary and knew that Hanai (a social enterprise focused on women’s healthcare needs) needed to shift focus to the rural and marginalised communities of Borneo.

To get things rolling on the Malaysian side, the powerhouse that is Yolanda Augustin opened multiple doors and guided us with her expertise, her connectedness, and her loving spirit to see the world a better a place. Team Hanai went on to partner with St Georges University of London, Universiti Malaya, University of Nottingham, Malaysia, among many others. Experts in their fields lent their brain power, time, in order to get the content for the Jiwa Ibu app going.

We ran focus group discussions — among doctors, nurses, midwives, community nurses, and the amazing women from the public who stepped in to lend their voices on what an ideal maternity care pathway would be like. While the Jiwa Ibu app cannot begin to resolve all the issues brought up, but it is a good start in the right direction.

Grassroots, academia, medical experts, local champions, our own team Hanai, what else was missing from the mix? Governance. Things usually work best with a good mix of everyone involved. And that is when, back in November 2019, YB Hannah Yeoh, the then Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development agreed to go down to the field, launch Jiwa Ibu, and see how a healthcare app would add value to the community she served.

But, to really get a good app, we needed to prod further. In February 2020, we went out to Likas, Sabah, to get further feedback from the community. Through the interaction, via our phones and tablets and getting women to download questionnaires, demos of the app, we had more focus on what to publish as the version of the Jiwa Ibu app.

In March 2020, team Hanai launched the Jiwa Ibu app to empower women, especially those in rural and marginalised communities.

We are in beta testing mode now — and encourage you to download the app and give us your feedback.