Mother and Child Handbook App 'Boshi-mo' Launches in Asahi Village, Nagano Prefecture!

Boshi-mo Inc. is pleased to announce the introduction of its mother and child handbook app, 'Boshi-mo,' in Asahi Village, Higashichikuma District, Nagano Prefecture, with services commencing on Wednesday, April 1st. Asahi Village operates under the basic philosophy of "Creating a village where future generations can thrive by building an environment where children can grow up healthy and learn, allowing parents to raise their children with peace of mind." The village is committed to creating an environment that supports and watches over children without interruption from pregnancy through their child-rearing years. The 'Boshi-mo' app, which allows digital recording of paper mother and child health handbook data and is adopted by over 830 municipalities, has been selected. This implementation aligns with the policy of promoting the use of electronic mother and child health handbooks by the Children and Families Agency and advancing mother and child health DX (digital transformation)※1. 'Boshi-mo' is an app that easily supports the management of vaccination schedules and health checkup results, as well as the distribution of local information, via smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Data is stored in the cloud, serving as a backup in case of loss of the mother and child health handbook due to disasters. It also supports continued use when moving to another municipality or changing devices, allowing users to continue using it with peace of mind.

◆'Boshi-mo' to be Offered in Asahi Village, Nagano Prefecture, Providing Seamless Support from Pregnancy to Raising Children Through High School! The 'Children and Families Center' in Asahi Village provides various consultations from pregnancy through the child-rearing period. In collaboration with relevant village organizations, they offer information, advice, and health guidance tailored to each family's needs, serving as a reliable support base for child-rearing households. Furthermore, child-rearing support is enhanced through measures such as the provision of congratulatory money for childbirth and the exemption of副食 (side dish) fees for nursery schools and school lunch fees for elementary schools. In addition, comprehensive support for child development includes thorough infant and toddler checkups (8 times by age 3),巡回相談 (circuit consultations) by specialists at nursery schools and elementary schools, and the establishment of health consultation days. The village also offers diverse support to continuously assist child-rearing households, including free nursery school fees from the 2-year-old class and subsidies for commuting expenses for families with high school students. To enable child-rearing households to utilize the village's initiatives more conveniently, 'Boshi-mo' has been adopted as a new tool for disseminating child-rearing information.

◆A Community-Focused Child-Rearing App to Fully Support Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Child-Rearing! 'Boshi-mo,' adopted by Asahi Village, is a service compatible with smartphones, tablets, and PCs. It is equipped with convenient features to assist busy mothers and fathers juggling childcare and work, including recording and managing health data for mothers and children, managing vaccination schedules, providing advice on childbirth and child-rearing, sharing functions with family members such as grandparents living in distant areas, and notifying users of local information distributed by the village. The 'Dekita yo Kinenbi' (Anniversary of Accomplishment) feature, which can be used as a childcare diary, is created based on the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's mother and child health handbook format examples. It allows users to record milestones in a child's development and child-rearing journey, including the 'Parent's Record' section of the mother and child health handbook, along with photos and messages. It also serves as a guide for the child's growth and development. Furthermore, in the event of social environmental changes due to factors like infectious diseases, the app can instantly deliver important information such as cautionary notices from the municipality and advice from public health nurses via text and video to those who need it, thereby supporting an environment where childbirth and child-rearing can be done with peace of mind even in emergencies.