UNB, Dhaka :
Asking questions about one’s physical or mental health publicly (in newspapers or forums) always came with the stigma of ‘what would people think?’
But thanks to innovation in technology and the need to prioritise health issues, especially women’s health, asking questions is no more a social ‘hush hush topic’ – in the form of Maya Apa, a virtual platform where questions related to health, psychosocial or legal assistance can be posted by users anonymously.
Maya was initially a blog, run by founder and CEO Ivy Huq Russell, who established it back in 2010-11 stemming from two personal experiences. The first was her mother (whose name is Maya and is the basis of the brand name), who was suffering from breast cancer and going through a depressing recovery process with no motivation being offered. Secondly, she was nine months’ pregnant, but had difficulties accessing to pregnancy-related information. This struck her mind as to where will women go to for advice or information, which is safe, secure and non-judgmental? After conducting much research, she established the blog where she reached out to her doctor friends, who offered their experiences and
advice related to pregnancy and other women’s health issues. “By 2014, I could understand from the website views that a snowball effect was slowly in place and word of mouth was indeed helping her cause,” Ivy told UNB. Recollecting what made her take things to the next level, she recalled a question posted by a pregnant woman, which was more of an emergency situation. “It was a one-off case in Dhaka, where the lady was in great pain and needed immediate attention, while going to the doctor was not an option for her.
Asking questions about one’s physical or mental health publicly (in newspapers or forums) always came with the stigma of ‘what would people think?’
But thanks to innovation in technology and the need to prioritise health issues, especially women’s health, asking questions is no more a social ‘hush hush topic’ – in the form of Maya Apa, a virtual platform where questions related to health, psychosocial or legal assistance can be posted by users anonymously.
Maya was initially a blog, run by founder and CEO Ivy Huq Russell, who established it back in 2010-11 stemming from two personal experiences. The first was her mother (whose name is Maya and is the basis of the brand name), who was suffering from breast cancer and going through a depressing recovery process with no motivation being offered. Secondly, she was nine months’ pregnant, but had difficulties accessing to pregnancy-related information. This struck her mind as to where will women go to for advice or information, which is safe, secure and non-judgmental? After conducting much research, she established the blog where she reached out to her doctor friends, who offered their experiences and
advice related to pregnancy and other women’s health issues. “By 2014, I could understand from the website views that a snowball effect was slowly in place and word of mouth was indeed helping her cause,” Ivy told UNB. Recollecting what made her take things to the next level, she recalled a question posted by a pregnant woman, which was more of an emergency situation. “It was a one-off case in Dhaka, where the lady was in great pain and needed immediate attention, while going to the doctor was not an option for her.
