careU is a sustainable post-partum care kit designed for new moms in Zambian rural areas. It aims to reduce the maternal mortality rate by providing ways of staying hygienic after giving birth, therefore lowering the risk of postpartum infections. Many women in Zambia lack access to health care and must resume field work shortly after giving birth - increasing the risk of potentially lethal infection. careU meets the needs of these women while respecting cultural and environmental concerns, leveraging a circular product-service ecosystem that reduces negative impacts on the environment while creating local employment opportunities for the surrounding community.

About 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, of which 1/10 are due to bacterial infection when going out to work during the puerperium, 6 weeks after giving birth. careU reduces the potential for new moms in Zambia's rural areas to get infections with the least negative impact on the local society and environment.

careU kit has the following components to help new moms in Zambia stay hygienic and away from infection:

1) The kit itself can be carried out in crossbody style and can be used as a sitting cushion to keep users from contacting dirty surfaces when they are at the break in the field.

2) The rinsing pouch comes with condensed witch hazel to help users treat inflammation and irritation after giving birth. The users simply need to pull the kit around their neck and open the rinsing cap in order to use the rinsing pouch, without hassle and embarrassment in public bathrooms.

3) The cooling pads and washable panties further help the users stay away from inflammation and pain.

In the category of maternal care, products are oftentimes meant to be used at home. The new moms in Zambia, however, need ways to stay hygienic more than just at home, because a lot of them are in charge of field work and water fetching even within 6 weeks after giving birth. Unlike existing maternal care products designed for women in developed countries, careU is designed to be used both at home and in the field, enabling the Zambian new moms to care for themselves anytime needed.

The third goal in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is Good Health and Wellbeing - with improving Maternal Health being a crucial part of that goal. The careU kit could become a powerful tool in helping the UN to get close to its goal of reducing global maternal mortality. It also provides the UN with a way to empower individual women to fight against maternal infection, rather than imposing medical procedures and excessive control on their lives.

About 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, of which 1/10 are due to bacterial infection when going out to work during the puerperium, 6 weeks after giving birth. careU reduces the potential for new moms in Zambia's rural areas to get infections with the least negative impact on the local society and environment.

The careU kit helps the users stay hygienic in a convenient way when they are out in the field and only have access to public bathrooms (or no bathroom at all). Users are able to rinse when needed, stay away from dirty surfaces to avoid infections and to carry the kit with them conveniently even with their new baby on their back. Another important task that careU enables the users to accomplish is to do the rinsing process at night in a low-light environment. Some communities in Zambia's rural areas do not have stable access to electricity, resulting in the need to do tasks in the dark. With glow-in-the-dark indications incorporated in different parts of the care kit, the users will have enough guidance to complete the tasks without lighting.

The careU kit comes with a circular ecosystem - a product/service/system that takes into account the local communities being served by the product. It is distributed through local health clinic. Besides providing the chance to track women who receive the product, the clinic can also work as a place to collect user feedback to further improve the product and experience over time. Except for the manufacturing of the cooling pads and witch hazel extract in the kit, all the other components can be made in Zambia from locally sourced materials. The assembly, distribution, and recycling also take place in Zambia to reduce the environmental impact caused by international transportation.

The textiles involved in making the product are made from Zambian grown corn silk and used kits will be collected and recycled for raw materials for future batches. Because the lifespan of maternal products is usually less than one year, recycling is very important to make the usage of raw material more efficient with less environmental impact per product unit. By engaging with locally-based farmers, producers and manufacturers, the careU kit can bring more employment opportunities to Zambian men, which in the end also benefits the main users, the females in the families. Moreover, Zambian women also receive additional job opportunities of producing the cushion and underwear parts in careU kit.

The careU kit has the silhouette "U", for the reason that it is supposed to be carried crossbody so it will fit well around the thigh; additionally, the U shape is meant to fulfill the need of serving as a maternal cushion. The final reason for the U shape silhouette is that when using the rinsing pouch in the kit, women need to rest the kit on their neck in order to make the liquid in the pouch flow down. The form choice of careU is the result of facilitating different user scenarios in order to provide women the optimal experience with the product.

The method of closure, after careful consideration, is designed as straps made of the same material as the rest of the kit instead of zippers. It is meant to eliminate commingled materials and further facilitate the process of disassembling and recycling of the product. The textiles used for careU will use local print designs. This choice has a positive impact on the local textile production industry as well as results in a product which fits in aesthetically into the daily lives of Zambian women. Rather than importing cotton materials from other countries, the aim is to make good use of local resources, helping the local crafts industry and economy in a good way. In terms of materials, careU is made of corn silk fabrics, Cotton, Witch Hazel, "Yupo" synthetic paper (recycled polypropylene) and small amount of PVC.

The careU kit is designed to be produced in Zambia out of locally sourced materials as much as possible. Items like the surgical tubing, witch hazel and cooling pads would be sourced from southeast Asia. Final assembly is intended to be done locally in Zambia, then transported to NGOs working with local health clinics for distribution - at no cost to the women receiving it. Because of the complexities of this supply chain and the uncertainty of labor and material costs in Zambia, it is difficult to determine the final per unit cost of careU. If each unit could be manufactured and assembled for $5 - $10, it would allow local NGOs to afford to distribute as many kits as possible and maximize the potential impact of careU - saving the lives of Zambian mothers and improving quality of life for entire communities.