LatchAid: Modernising breastfeeding support services to help mothers and babies breastfeed during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond

LatchAid：现代化母乳喂养支持服务，帮助母亲和婴儿在 Covid-19 大流行期间及之后进行母乳喂养

• 批准号: 55093
• 金额: $ 9.56万
• 依托单位: LATCHAID LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=55093
• 关键词: LatchAid; Modernising; breastfeeding; support; services

Breastfeeding support services in the UK are patchy, under-funded, and predominantly rely on face-to-face delivery, which is now paralysed by the Covid-19 pandemic due to social distancing measures. Millions of mothers and babies are isolated at home and suffering in silence when they experience breastfeeding issues. Research shows that 90% of mothers give up breastfeeding before they want to. Among them over 60% are due to pain and health issues (i.e. cracked nipples, breast infection) caused by incorrect latching (how the baby fastens onto the breast) and the lack of appropriate support.Using digital solutions to deliver breastfeeding support is urgently needed. This project provides the platform to achieve this gradually during six months. LatchAid's Beta mobile app contains 3D interactive breastfeeding animations, breastfeeding support chat rooms, and infant-feeding FAQs. It has already been commended as a much-needed, revolutionary innovation by users in 10 different countries across 6 continents. This funding will scale our reach and fast track the development of three additional features, tailor-made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They enable the delivery of digital breastfeeding support at scale: (1) Virtual breastfeeding support groups; (2) A virtual breastfeeding supporter (3) Interactive expert webinars. Powered by Artificial Intelligence, our virtual support groups foster a scalable and accessible ecosystem where mothers can learn breastfeeding skills and connect with others for vital peer-to-peer and professional support anywhere, anytime. The virtual breastfeeding supporter chatbot enables us to support millions of users globally 24/7\. We are passionate about improving the breastfeeding outcome and women's feeling of self-efficacy, which will in turn bring substantial benefits to the families and society.Breastfeeding organisations and professionals severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic can resume service delivery through our platform. In the short term our objective is to support the UK mothers who are struggling with breastfeeding now. In the long term our mission is to enable the mothers of 800,000 babies born in the UK and 140,000,000 babies born worldwide every year to easily access reliable and trustworthy information and support with their breastfeeding needs.The Extension for Impact funding will allow us to exploit the R&D outcome of this project and deliver the LatchAid product to both B2C and B2B markets. During the project extension, we are planning to conduct an open Beta testing, launch the LatchAid app at AppStore, and start to pilot the LatchAid app among expectant and new mothers at three NHS trusts (including Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals) to explore opportunities of integrating LatchAid solutions into their antenatal and postnatal care systems.

英国的母乳喂养支持服务参差不齐，资金不足，主要依赖面对面的分娩，由于社会疏远措施，这种方式现在因新冠肺炎疫情而陷入瘫痪。数以百万计的母亲和婴儿在家中与世隔绝，当他们遇到母乳喂养问题时，他们在沉默中受苦。研究表明，90%的母亲在想要之前就放弃了母乳喂养。其中超过60%的原因是疼痛和健康问题(如乳头破裂、乳房感染)，由错误的锁闭(婴儿如何紧贴乳房)和缺乏适当的支持而导致。该项目提供了在六个月内逐步实现这一目标的平台。Latchaid的Beta移动应用程序包含3D互动母乳喂养动画、母乳喂养支持聊天室和婴儿喂养常见问题解答。它已经被6大洲10个不同国家的用户称赞为亟需的革命性创新。这笔资金将扩大我们的覆盖范围，并快速开发三个额外功能，这些功能是为应对新冠肺炎疫情量身定做的。它们能够大规模提供数字母乳喂养支持：(1)虚拟母乳喂养支持小组；(2)虚拟母乳喂养支持者(3)互动专家网络研讨会。在人工智能的支持下，我们的虚拟支持小组培养了一个可扩展和可访问的生态系统，母亲们可以在其中学习母乳喂养技能，并随时随地与其他人联系，获得重要的点对点和专业支持。虚拟母乳喂养支持者聊天机器人使我们能够全天候支持全球数百万用户。我们热衷于改善母乳喂养结果和妇女的自我效能感，这将反过来为家庭和社会带来实实在在的好处。受到新冠肺炎疫情严重干扰的母乳喂养组织和专业人士可以通过我们的平台恢复服务。在短期内，我们的目标是支持那些正在为母乳喂养而挣扎的英国母亲。从长远来看，我们的使命是让每年在英国出生的80万名婴儿和全球出生的1.4亿名婴儿的母亲能够轻松获得可靠和值得信赖的信息，并为他们的母乳喂养需求提供支持。Impact资金的延期将使我们能够利用该项目的研发成果，并向B2C和B2B市场提供Latchaid产品。在项目扩展期间，我们计划进行公开Beta测试，在AppStore推出Latchaid应用程序，并开始在三个NHS信托基金(包括切尔西和威斯敏斯特医院、Torbay&South Devon NHS基金会信托基金和Blackpool教学医院)的孕妇和新妈妈中试行Latchaid应用程序，以探索将Latchaid解决方案集成到他们的产前和产后护理系统中的机会。