A student of Jamia Millia Islamia , Ishita Singh, has introduced a unique startup which is called ‘MAATRITVAA: The Foundation of Life and Nation'. This primary aim of this startup is to educate pregnant women about self care, baby care, breast feeding, and lactation apart from the intake of nutrition and diet that is required by them.
Ishita Singh is pursuing the postgraduate diploma course in the programme of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Design Thinking at Jamia Millia Islamia. She said that the antecedents and development of the health of a child or an adult begin prenatally and also preconceptionally. Through the startup, she aims to educate would-be mothers so that their children can have a healthy childhood.
Both of Ishita’s parents are doctors and her mother is also a co-founder of the startup. Ishita’s mother, Dr. Asha Chaohan, said that mothers and would-be mothers need to understand the new journey that they are going through. They need to know that they are not alone because pregnancy can be an overwhelming and unfamiliar experience for some women.
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The startup MAATRITVAA offers offline classes and gives practical demonstration for enhancing the knowledge of mothers. A team of experienced and highly skilled paediatric doctors is also involved in this programme. The mothers are provided with emotional support, styling for mothers, and also with customised approaches for enhancing their experience.
The entire programme runs in five different stages.
Stage 1: This stage is about adolescent care in which self care, health screening (test for anaemia, HIV, STIs), immunisation, diet, health parameters (BMI) are included.
Stage 2: Training on preconception care involving addressing immunisation, health screening, diet and lifestyle, genetic counselling, alcohol and tobacco, etc.
Stage 3: Organisation of classes during nine months with practical demonstrations on diet and nutrition, self care, baby care, breastfeeding/ lactation, role of fathers.
Stage 4: Provision of postnatal care with a main focus on diet and nutrition, self care, and baby care.
Stage 5: Mothers are given tips about child growth along with monitoring the child’s neurodevelopment, physical development, and psychosocial development.
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Ishita claimed that this is the only programme in the country that covers all the phases leading to the healthy development of the child. As per her NSRCEL, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM B) has picked up her startup for monitoring session.