Background
Where you live should not decide the support you get
Maternity care follows pregnancy closely, with planned visits and physical check-ups. Worry, fear and stress are often left for the expectant family to manage on their own between those visits.
Värmland has long distances and large rural areas. In the project application, Region Värmland describes how this creates unequal care, where place of residence often decides access to support. Pregnant people are also asking for reliable digital tools. The project is part of the region's work towards Sweden's "Good and close care" reform.
"Maternity care follows the body closely. The emotional side is often carried by the family alone between appointments. Now we get to develop Omaia together with midwives, researchers and expectant families in Värmland, and we will be clear about what we know and what we do not yet know."
The project
Co-created with the people who will use it
The project is called Co-Creating a Resilient Digital Pathway for Perinatal Mental Health. The aim is to shape, together with the care system, researchers and expectant families, digital support that works in everyday life for pregnant people in Värmland. Omaia contributes its platform: self-directed exercises and tools for the ordinary worry and fear of pregnancy, built with midwives and psychologists and grounded in established CBT and ACT methods.
Karlstad University leads the research. Subject to ethics approval, planned studies will look at how pregnant people experience the support, how midwives see it in their work, and which organisational and health-economic questions need answers before wider use. We will build in steps and report each one openly.
Vinnova's assessment
Selected in competition
The application was reviewed by an external panel and weighed against other applications on three criteria: potential, actors and implementation.
"The project is judged to have important potential through a clearly need-driven approach, well-developed reasoning on sex, gender and equality, and an established technical foundation."
Equality
The partner is not a bystander
The project includes partners and co-parents, in every family constellation. It also aims to help break the norms around motherhood that stop many people from seeking support for worry and stress. Worry in pregnancy is information, not weakness.
Triple Helix
Care, academia and industry
Coordinator
Region Värmland
Women's healthcare. Owns the project and brings knowledge of needs in maternity care.
Research
Karlstad University
Faculty of Health, Science and Technology. Leads the research and evaluation.
Digital platform
Omaia AB
Develops the platform and adapts it in short cycles based on what the project learns.
Project partner
Chalmers Industriteknik
Technical development, responsible AI and bias review, plus co-design and evaluation. The goal is AI that is transparent, traceable and explainable, in line with the EU AI Act.
"Our task is to build knowledge about what works, for whom, and how it can be introduced sustainably. We will build that knowledge step by step and report the results openly."
Planned
Step by step
Project start
Ethics application and technical set-up.
Planned studies
After ethics approval: experiences of pregnant people and midwives.
Analysis and learning
Results analysed and shared after review by the researchers.
Final report
Reporting to Vinnova and a plan for wider use.
Facts
About the project
| Project title | Co-Creating a Resilient Digital Pathway for Perinatal Mental Health |
|---|---|
| Call | Collaborative projects for healthy and resilient communities, Vinnova |
| Reference no. | 2026-02584 |
| Decision | Granted 28 October 2026 |
| Period | 2026-11-02 – 2028-10-31 |
| Coordinator | Region Värmland |
| Project lead | Karin Ängeby |
| Partners | Karlstad University, Omaia AB, Chalmers Industriteknik Foundation |
| Budget | SEK 2,000,000 from Vinnova: SEK 1,168,800 to Omaia AB and SEK 831,200 to Chalmers Industriteknik Foundation. Total project budget SEK 2,997,155. |
About Omaia
Omaia is a Swedish pregnancy wellbeing company. Omaia gives expectant families self-directed, evidence-informed exercises and tools for the ordinary worry and fear of pregnancy, built with midwives and psychologists. Omaia does not diagnose, treat or replace clinical care.
Press contact
Nina Larsen, nina@omaia.ai
Carried out with support from Vinnova, Sweden's Innovation Agency
