Archives for April 2017

April 20, 2017 By GOQii Editor 1 Comment

GOQii enters into alliance with Max Bupa and Swiss Re for Health Offerings

In the current times buying a health insurance plan has become very difficult owing to the increase in the costs of these plans. Secondly, healthy people are paying more premiums for the people who are sick. More often than not healthy people are carrying the burden of the unhealthy people and paying disproportionately. This is exactly how all insurance plans work. Healthy people are always found asking the questions why am I paying so much in spite of being healthy?

Three-year-old GOQii, the health and wellness ecosystem start-up focused on preventive healthcare has been working on how it could help all those who are healthy, benefit from healthcare plans. To complement its offerings around pre-emptive healthcare and wellness, GOQii has entered into a partnership with Max Bupa, a specialised health insurer, and Swiss Re, leading global reinsurer to provide differentiated and comprehensive health offerings.

As a part of this three-way deal, Max Bupa consumers will get ready access to GOQii’s unique personalised wellness engine which is equipped with solutions such as health coaching and health management tools. Swiss Re will provide technical assistance to Max Bupa in creating relevant products and building expertise to create risk assessment models for future.

“At GOQii, we respond to consumer insights with the help of technology innovations to offer fitness products and services which blend seamlessly in a consumer’s lifestyle and add value. Going beyond the wearable fitness band, we have introduced tools and services which inculcate the intent of healthy living among consumers. Our tie-up with Max Bupa complements our current offerings around pre-emptive healthcare and wellness,” says Vishal Gondal, Founder & CEO, GOQii.

Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa says, “Over the last few years, we have seen a significant increase in uptake of health insurance among customers under the age of 35 years. This segment is very active digitally and is turning to technology to stay fit. It is predicted that by 2019, 2 out of 5 internet users will use a health app. Engagement with such tools could be as high as 50%. This gives us a huge opportunity to promote holistic wellness by leveraging personal healthcare devices that are capable of tracking and relaying medically useful information”.

“Offering pre-emptive wellness solutions for maintaining their health is one effective way to engage with young customers and encourage them to buy health insurance. GOQii, with its rich expertise in the digital wellness space, provides an ideal platform that will help us penetrate deeper into this segment and serve the large uninsured population in the country,” Mehrotra adds.

For Swiss Re with the opening of its India branch, its focus is to develop sustainable practices in health insurance. We will provide technical support through our costing and risk management expertise. Kalpana Sampat, CEO of Swiss Re India Branch, added, “We are delighted to partner with Max Bupa and GOQii. With more tech-savvy and health conscious consumers, insurers like Max Bupa will have much to gain from working together with partners like GoQii. The overall health insurance programme connected with technology will help to reduce claims cost and allow insurers to better price their products for consumers”.

The new offering is also in line with the recent health insurance guidelines where IRDA is laying a strong emphasis on driving the shift from ‘illness to wellness’ and encouraging insurance companies to create offerings that cater to preventive healthcare needs of customers. With this alliance, Max Bupa has become the first health insurer in the country to partner with a digital health and fitness brand to create digitally enabled, holistic wellness solutions, tailor-made to meet the evolving health needs of customers.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/max-bupa-partners-with-goqii-swiss-re-117042000616_1.html

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/max-bupa-partners-with-goqii-swiss-re-for-wellness-solutions-2262439.html

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/max-bupa-inks-alliance-with-goqii-swiss-re/article9652945.ece

April 17, 2017 By GOQii Editor Leave a Comment

GOQii Sanjeevani : Our Village Experience

It was a big day for all of us at GOQii as the company was kick-starting its new project GOQiiSanjeevani in the village of Waghadi in Palghar district on April 7^th-World Health day. 10 of us expert coaches along with our two in-house doctors and 5 tech team personnel and other senior members from GOQii including our CEO Vishal Gondal travelled on the morning of April 7^th to Waghadi for the launch. We were going there with a purpose to consult the villagers and guide and educate them on their health issues.

For the last 3 years that most of us have been here at GOQii, we have been dealing with urbanites who have a hectic, stressful and majorly sedentary lifestyle. GOQiiSanjeevani gave us a fresh new opportunity to Coach the villagers who have totally different concerns when it comes to health.

50 villagers with smartphones were shortlisted. They were given the band and also asked to install the app in their phones. Once that was done they were sent to the expert coaches for an interaction. Initially, the villagers were a little apprehensive to share information but when we explained to them how the band, the app along with the coaching is going to help and prevent them from falling ill they got interested.

We found that the villagers are active in their own ways as they walk quite a distance due to lack of frequent public transportation.Women here take care of farming while men are involved in different occupations like teaching, driving etc. However, on talking to them we realized that they do not have major health issues as of now but are almost on the brink of developing disorders like diabetes, thyroid, acidity, UTI due to poor diet habits and hygiene etc. It was hard to believe that many are indulging in regularly eating processed food and junk foods like Chinese, VadaPav (Indianised burger), Samosa etc.

Issues Seen in them:

Acidity due to skipping Breakfast and large meal gaps through the day
Lack of Fibre in terms of Veggies & Fruits in regular daily diet
Joint Pain and Anemia in Women
Sleep Issues

As for now, GOQii Expert Coaches have majorly started working on

Regular meals
Inclusion of fruits and vegetables in their daily food
Have Breakfast
Add Iron & Calcium food sources for women

Once we finished interacting with the 50 villagers there was a bit of an apprehension from our side. Most of us were not sure if the villagers would keep in touch and interact with us

But, we are pleasantly surprised with theresponse we are getting from the villagers. On a dailybasis, they are informing us how much they are eating and what they are eating, if they’re sleeping well etc.They are following our instructions and that is overwhelming for us.

Our overall experience was enriching. It was a new learning on how to communicate with the villagers.

April 7, 2017 By Vishal Gondal Leave a Comment

GOQii kick starts it’s public health pilot project with ‘Sanjeevani’

Having succeeded in improving the lives of many in Urban India, we wish to expand our preventive health and wellness ecosystem to a wider audience with integration into public health care. We have the distinction of being one of the world’s leading health ecosystems and preventive health platforms and are now leveraging technology to take preventive healthcare to the masses in the hinterlands of India.

Today, April 7th, on World Health day, we have launched our pilot Preventive Public Health Care project called ‘Sanjeevani’ in the villages of Vaghadi and Charoti in Palghar district of Maharashtra. These districts have a combined population of over 2000.

The pilot project is in association with MP Poonam Mahajan who has adopted these villages under PM Modi’s-Adopt a Village Scheme- ‘Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’ to convert the villages into model villages. The move comes in the backdrop of the grim legacy of rural and public health care system in the country.

Healthcare is the right of every individual but, rural healthcare is one of biggest challenges faced by our country. With more than 70 percent of the population living in rural areas and access to low standard of health facilities, 31% of the population travels more than 30 km to seek healthcare in rural India. However, the current government’s initiative on preventive healthcare and immunisation come as a ray of hope and is likely to change the situation.

The Prime Minister has reiterated in several of his addresses to the nation that his government wants to effectively use ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ campaigns to ensure healthcare reaches the country’s poorest of the poor.

Penetration of mobile devices and data networks in rural markets have placed immense information power into the hands of everyone. Digital innovations have made it possible for consumers to access information and communicate freely. GOQii will leverage the new digital wave and provide its healthcare services to the population at the grassroots.

In addition to providing consultation on lifestyle related issues, GOQii also aims to address issues such as anemia, malnutrition, women’s health and diseases that are more typical of rural India.

In phase I of the pilot project, which could extend anywhere from 6-12 months, 500 people from Vaghadi, Charoti and nearby villages, with access to smartphones, have been shortlisted. We will provide these shortlisted villagers with a GOQii Fitness Tracker that will help them track their daily step count and have their first face to face consultation with the health coach. They will be taught to log their food data, check their sleep cycle, help understand their Health Risk via Assessment (HRA) and also learn about Karma points earned and how they could donate towards the good of the society.

In order to be able to do all of these functions with ease and break the language barrier, GOQii has made the app available in the vernacular language –Marathi. The chat feature has been designed to ease the communication between the users and their respective coaches. GOQii Doctors will be on board to provide timely healthcare consultation and, along with the coaches, will communicate in Marathi and Hindi.

As we move forward in the project, GOQii is looking to create an ecosystem with various partners in diagnostics and hospital care who will help in conducting critical tests like Blood Pressure (BP), ECG, Blood Sugar etc. at the villager’s doorstep and deliver the reports in a digital format directly to them and store in the Health Locker.

We have complete support from MP Poonam Mahajan. Commenting on the launch she said, “Technology can be a powerful platform to deliver low-cost healthcare in rural India. We are excited to partner with GOQii to enable prevention of diseases, enhance the quality of life and promote fitness.”

The project will be carried out in phases across several villages and as part of this project, at a later stage, GOQii will work towards training frontline health workers to be health coaches. Through this pilot project, GOQii aims to start a new health revolution across the country which focuses on preventive health care for people at the grass root level who have limited access to health care facilities.

We will begin a health revolution by leveraging technology to the fullest and bring preventive healthcare to the masses at their doorstep. We are hopeful that through this pilot project, we will be able to improve the quality of life of rural India.

GOQii has recently been featured as a management case study in the Harvard Business Publishing Platform for educators. It is indeed a proud moment for us that GOQii has received such recognition in a short span of time and that the student community is looking at the success of GOQii as a benchmark for their management program. This further reinstates the company’s vision of healthy living and preventive healthcare.

April 3, 2017 By Ruta Satam Leave a Comment

Good Karma brings Wellbeing

Total karma points donated: 19,497,588

Total money raised: 47million rupees (Rs 4.7 Crore)

Total causes featured: 25

Good intent resulting in good deed contributes to good karma and future happiness. It has been scientifically proven that the act of giving generates personal happiness and overall wellbeing. At GOQii, the karma philosophy has been to achieve harmony between mind, body & soul.

The year 2016 has been fantastic for GOQii and for all the causes featured on its Karma platform. The causes were successfully completed and funded with GOQii players’ karma point contribution. The Donor partner converted the contributed karma points to actual money and the impact that has been created is incredible.

Below are some highlights from our NGO partners and their work that GOQii has supported:

(I) Oxfam India

Highlights:

Violence against Women: This continues to be one of the most prevalent and least recognised human rights violations in the world. One in every two women in India experience violence in their daily life.

Oxfam India under its Gender Justice theme has been addressing the issue of violence against women in 13 states of the country through various programs and campaigns.This program brings policy level changes through continuous engagement with Government through civil society and improved access for survivors of domestic violence to support services and the formal justice system.

Under this project, Oxfam India empowered 1.92 lakh men, women, boys and girls on the issues of violence against women.

37299 women also received training on various laws, schemes and acts and are leading community actions at various levels.

This program has created a positive impact in the lives of women who have been a victim of domestic violence. One such inspiring story is of Leela;

Leela, a mother of four children, from UP tolerated her husband’s anger for a long time. Until one night, he tried to strangle her. She reached out to a local NGO supported by Oxfam. Leela’s husband appeared at the NGO’s office that evening, drunk and threatened to attack her if she did not return with him. The counsellors informed the local police and he was taken to the police station for the night. A day later he came back, repentant and with the promise that he would not abuse Leela.

Leela returned home and the neighbours were asked to keep an eye on her husband and to report if any abusive behaviour was suspected. Gradually, Leela’s husband gave up drinking.

This terrible experience had convinced Leela that other women in her situation could also be helped. A week later, she was back at the centre, with another woman survivor. Since then, she has helped many women approach the centre.

Leela has also had a makeover—from an unsure woman who once believed that it was her fate to suffer, she has become a confident person who knows she can help others.

Oxfam’s Disaster relief program:

Disasters and poverty are closely linked to each other. The greater the severity and frequency of crises, the greater the humanitarian need.

Oxfam India along with other affiliates impacted about 271,874 people directly in Nepal through its various relief initiatives and helped them rebuild their lives after the earthquake. Oxfam India supported 50000 persons during South India flood response programme. 8000 households were supported with hygiene kit, Non-Food Items (NFI), and dry food.

(II) Greensole

Greensole, recycles discarded shoes to comfortable footwear, keeping those without shoes away from landfills and provide them to the neediest through corporates, NGOs and schools.

In 2016, Greensole reached a milestone of donating footwear to 50,000 people. The donation drive touched 89 rural schools.

(III) Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust

Food Project:

RatnaNidhi Charitable trust’s Food for Education program distributed free food prepared in RNCT’s kitchens on a daily basis. The food is distributed to poor children attending any formal or non-formal educational class.

In 2016, ShehzadisRatna Nidhi Charitable Trust distributed food to 37 School touching 4500 Kids with 1 Meal every day. The programme had been very effective in arresting the drop-out rate in schools.

Disability project:

RatnaNidhi Charitable Trust’s Disability project gave a new life to 874 disabled people who had been deprived of their basic privileges of mobility and hearing. These persons with disability have gained their self-confidence back and are now living a normal life and have the potential to become contributing members of society.

One of the success stories in this project is of Shehzad is

an orphan who hasbeen raised by his paternal uncle in the slums of Govandi, Mumbai. His uncle is a daily wage worker earning just a handful. Sehzad grew up taking up the same job as his uncle after finishing his primary education.

On a doomful day, he was carrying an Oxygen cylinder which exploded, and that accident cost him both his legs. He got his initial treatment done at a local hospital at Bhiwandi and was then transferred to Sir J.J Hospital and later to All India Institute of Physical Medicines at Haji Ali.

While his treatment was on, he was introduced to RatnaNidhimedical centre where he was provided with a lighter and comfortable prosthesis. Shehzadis now very active and happy at his workplace working as a tailor, stitching his dreams together.

Educational sponsorship for victims affected during terror attacks:

This program of RatnaNidhi Charitable trust has given dependents of the terror victims a ray of hope in the form of educational sponsorship. The sponsorships are given out for a period of 5 years, wherein a minimum of Rs.5000 a year and additionally Rs.10000 to those pursuing higher education, graduation and post-graduation, was offered. The progress of the beneficiaries was tracked and monitor every six months. 93 kids were supported in 2016.

Age Group	Total number of kids
6 to 10	11
11 to 13	19
14 to 17	32
18 and above	31
Total	93

To conclude, Karmais rooted in our choices. By making better choices today we can improve our wellness karma in the future and experience a more vibrant state of health.