NeMa

It should never cost life to give life.

NeMa is a conversational AI platform designed to assist professional midwives during childbirth.

Every day 800 women around the world die during pregnancy or childbirth. Ensuring that expectant mothers have access to trained birth attendants in their areas is crucial. It is essential for midwives and birth assistants to have up-to-date knowledge on managing complex situations. To support the midwives in remote, compromised-connectivity areas in order to enhance maternal and neonatal health outcomes, Neuvo Inc. Global collaborated with the Maternity Foundation. Safe Delivery App (SDA) by Maternity Foundation is a smartphone application that is providing healthcare professionals with life-saving guidelines to handle complications related to birth and pregnancy. By implementing our conversational AI NeMa as a seamless part of the SDA we were able to make the given information accessible more quickly and intuitively and make SDA from a training assistant to a work-aid.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Organon play a pivotal role in enabling the project’s reach and impact by providing essential funding and resources. Organon, a healthcare company focused on women’s health, brings expertise and commitment to addressing maternal and neonatal healthcare challenges. Their support has been instrumental in scaling and refining NeMa’s integration into the Safe Delivery App, helping midwives provide better care in underserved regions.

NeMa, derived from the Arabic word "ni‘mah / ni‘amah," meaning "blessing," is a conversational AI platform designed to assist professional midwives during childbirth. It provides information in over 100 languages, with content developed and rigorously reviewed by medical experts. NeMa uses the materials of SDA as the only source of its content. This closed, controlled system ensures NeMa always gives verified, accurate responses. NeMa provides real-time support to midwives and healthcare professionals during deliveries, ensuring they follow best practices even in high-pressure situations. NeMa offers a collection of information on maternal and neonatal care. It helps healthcare workers learn and recall essential knowledge related to safe delivery practices, which is crucial for those who may not have access to continuous medical education. 

NeMa is designed to be user-friendly and accessible, with an interface that supports multiple languges. NeMa is the first ever conversational AI support for midwives, designed to function offline, ensuring that healthcare workers can rely on it even in remote locations where there is weak internet connectivity. 

In 2023 and 2024, two pilot projects were executed in Punjab, India. Midwives and trainees tested NeMa in real scenarios, allowing for improvement of the AI model based on user feedback. These pilots evaluated the effectiveness of integrating NeMa into the Safe Delivery App and how it aligned with the needs of the midwives. 

The outcomes and benefits of the pilot projects proved NeMa as a training support on safe delivery practices and complication management. NeMa provided real-time access to guidance for midwives during live situations. The feedback from midwives enabled improvements in NeMa enhancing its accuracy, relevance and usability. 

The collaboration aims to transform maternal healthcare accessibility, particularly in rural areas, by ensuring that midwives and trainees have continuous support. With the adaptability of NeMa to offline scenarios and its conversational design, this initiative has the potential to significantly reduce maternal and neonatal complications and fatalities.

Products Used in NeMa