Māori app aims to reduce sudden unexplained death in infancy

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A Māori-focussed app has been designed to provide information to māma hāpu (pregnant women) and māma hou (new mothers ) who do not engage with traditional antenatal services.

The development of Tuku Iho was led by the National SUDI Prevention Coordination Service (NSPCS) at Hāpai Te Hauora Māori Public Health.

Fay Selby-Law, general manager of the service, says research shows 20 percent of Māori women who arrive at Middlemore Hospital to deliver their babies have not had any antenatal care.

In the South Auckland region, Pasifika women also have the highest numbers of sudden unexplained death in infancy (SUDI) and Hāpai Te Hauora want to change that by improving education around childbirth.

“We wanted to find a way that was simple and easy for Māori and Pacific women to engage as antenatal education classes are not a method of learning that they particularly enjoy,” she says.

“A healthier mum is less likely to have a SUDI.”

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Hāpai Te Hauora previously supported the development of a successful breastfeeding app and decided to provide an additional tool for mothers, childbirth educators and midwives.

During the co-design process with māma hāpu and māma hou the team were surprised to discover that what women really wanted was practical and useful information about birthing and the immediate post-natal period.

The app links mātauranga Māori – the sets of knowledge given by ancestors – with this practical knowledge and includes videos and waiata.

“It is all about listening to community voices, keeping the app as simple as possible and up to date,” Selby-Law says.

NSPCS worked with KIWA Digital to build the app and Māoriland produced the creative indigenous content.

Since its launch in August 2022 it has been downloaded more than 1500 times, with an increase of 30 percent over the past three months.

Kassie Hartendorp from Kapiti Coast says she used Tuku Iho while she was hapu with her first pepi (baby) and found the info really helpful in preparing for parenthood.

“Raising our pepi with Māori values was important to us, so this app was perfect compared to the non-Maori resources out there,” she says.

“I didn't know much about parenting before I started and I found the app really warm and welcoming to learn from.”

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