100. Moment Health

Founder: Nuala Murphy
Founded: January 2017 (launched November 2017)
Website: www.momenthealth.io

Antenatal and postnatal depression and its associated anxieties are a huge issue for expectant and new mums across Britain.

However, maternal mental health – and conversations around it – are yet to fully become a part of mainstream society.

For instance, did you know that, in the UK, perinatal mental health problems affect between 10% to 20% of women during pregnancy and the first year after having a baby?

Or, did you know that 23% of British women who died between six weeks and one year after pregnancy died from mental-health causes, with 14% of this figure dying by suicide?

For Belfast-based Nuala Murphy, a new mother herself, these frightening statistics meant that something had to be done to help others who would otherwise have nowhere to go.

So, six months ago Murphy launched Moment Health and has made it her mission to put maternal health in the spotlight.

Developed with clinicians and healthcare professionals, Moment Health is the only app of its kind focused on early-intervention in pregnancy. Its aim is to help solve many of the postnatal depression problems which mums and mums-to-be suffer.

Backed by £250,000 from Pentech Ventures and TechStart NI, the app has already had some traction:

In its first week of going live, Moment Health became the number one ranked UK health and fitness app on the App Store – a ranking which Murphy regards as “bittersweet as it underpins the scale of the problem”.

The app is also in a clinical trial with Ulster University with the early research “showing significant results”. However, Murphy has much bigger ambitions for what Moment Health can achieve.

She tells us that her long-term goal for the business is “to make a dent in the statistics, understand the illness further, and help every mum, dad or partner to sustain good mental health on their parenting journey. Successful or not.”

With research that 80-90% of prenatal and postnatal depression sufferers fully recover with early intervention, the potential for Moment Health is undeniable.