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Investment in better lifestyles for pregnant women and children
LiU Invest joins as a co-founder of Science4Families, which has developed digital tools for healthcare.
Obesity and unhealthy lifestyles create both suffering for patients and increased costs in healthcare. In some of Sweden's regions, over half of all pregnant women are classified as overweight already at the beginning of pregnancy. This leads to a greater risk of complications and increased costs, for example increased costs for caesarean sections. Healthcare professionals often experience obesity as a sensitive and charged subject and therefore need better tools to be able to easily guide the patient towards healthier lifestyle habits. Good tools also become even more important when there are language barriers. You want to be able to support and help without it feeling like you're bringing pointers or commenting on patients' appearance.
The company Science4Families' operations are based on apps or IT systems for healthy lifestyles, weight control and treatment of gestational diabetes and related areas. In their research, the researchers behind the company have developed digital tools that aim to make the patient feel better, the healthcare staff to have an easier job and the healthcare provider to save money. A win-win-win.
If you compare it to other apps on the market, a unique selling point is that everything the company is doing comes from research and that there is evidence that it really works. This is considered important as public and private healthcare providers are customers.