BarevBalik.am - A reliable maternal and child health platform and app will guide parents and prepare parents-to-be with answers to the most frequently asked questions throughout the first years of parenthood

BarevBalik.am — the first-ever fully Armenian reliable platform and mobile app developed for parents and parents-to-be aiming to guide them in the first steps into parenthood — was officially launched.

This maternal and child health platform was developed as a result of joint efforts of the UNDP in Armenia, through SDG Innovation Lab, the Ministry of Health and Viva-MTS. Throughout two years of implementation of the project, Viva-MTS provided financial support of USD 100,000.

The mission, benefits, and main features of the BarevBalik platform and mobile application were presented at the official launch event which was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia, UNDP as well as representatives of three mobile network operators Viva-MTS, Ucom and Team Telecom Armenia — participants of the project.

BarevBalik is targeting couples involved in family planning, pregnant women, people with infertility issues, and parents of children of up to 6 years old.

BarevBalik is aimed at making health information and services more accessible for target groups. The platform ensures protection of private data through mobile ID technology — mobile digital signature system as an identifier for a website or mobile app.

During the event, Konstantin Sokulskiy, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Armenia, welcomed the guests and highlighted the importance of decades of cooperation between UNDP and Ministry of Health in contexts as diverse as infrastructure development for public health, development of preventive healthcare investment cases, and capacity building for emergency situations.

“BarevBalik is a product of extremely valuable partnership of UNDP, its SDG Innovation Lab, and Ministry of Health and Viva-MTS as the donor. I would like to thank Government partners and the private sector for being open to incorporating evidence-based and citizen-centric approaches into the healthcare sector in Armenia,” mentioned Mr. Sokulskiy.

BarevBalik platform is the product developed within the framework of BarevBalik project which was conceptualized in response to the priorities of the Ministry of Health in the maternal and child healthcare sector. It addresses the main issues in this sector which includes the current maternal mortality ratio, child mortality ratio, prenatal and postnatal complications, and rising infertility cases.

Deputy Minister of Health Artak Jumayan said: “I am happy that this project became a reality through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Health, UNDP’s SDG Innovation Lab, and Viva-MTS. It is of high importance that there is an online one-stop shop for providing all the necessary evidence-based and Ministry-approved content to all the parents and parents-to-be. This is a great achievement both for catalyzing the modernization of maternal and child healthcare sector as well as for implementing the strategic goals of our government.”

As a result of joint efforts, this platform was developed to provide citizens with up-to-date health information in Armenian and modern tools for proactively navigating their prenatal and post-natal health journey and making informed decisions.

“This joint project is the result of combining efforts for developing digital technologies and strengthening public health. An effective public-private partnership has great potential to continuously improve quality of life. Digital transformation unavoidably brings positive changes to almost all sectors of social life including public health,” mentioned Kim Avanesyan, Manager of the Internal Control and Audit Department at Viva-MTS.

The welcome remarks were followed by demonstration of the platform and mobile app as well as presentation of the key results of the project by Nayiri Shorjian — the Project Lead of BarevBalik project at SDG Innovation Lab.

The platform pilots digitalized personal service — children's digital vaccination record — and incorporates evidence-based health information for informed decision-making for preventive healthcare and treatment.  Other features on reproductive health, pregnancy and children’s health and development piloted by BarevBalik include:

• Financial eligibility checker
• Map of health services nearby
• BMI tracker
• Sleep and breastfeeding trackers
• Menstruation and ovulation tracker
• Information on health conditions, prevention, and treatment
• Information on children's healthy development and childcare

Apart from the web version, BarevBalik is also available on App Store and Google Play.

BarevBalik platform is developed under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia.