Two pioneering, clinically-led digital app solutions have won the Ripple Women’s Digital Health Challenge – a global innovation programme, delivered by Cogniss in partnership with the Health Innovation Network (the Network) and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The two winning app ideas, developed by clinicians and researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Bath respectively, aim to close the gap on women’s health by offering vital support to women with their mental wellbeing – specifically those suffering with Hyperemesis Gravidarum and to those who support children with mental health or developmental challenges.
‘NVP Minds’, led by Associate Professor Fiona Challacombe, an academic and registered clinical psychologist from the University of Oxford, aims to support women suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), a debilitating condition that causes severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. HG affects 30,000 pregnancies in the UK annually, with up to 50% of sufferers report considering ending the pregnancy as a direct result of the condition due to the severe physical and psychological toll.
The other winning proposal, ‘HearHer’, developed by Dr. Faith Martin, a clinical and health psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Bath, targets maternal mental wellbeing for the over 2 million mothers in the UK supporting children with mental health or developmental challenges. This group is known to experience chronic stress and emotional exhaustion whilst supporting their children to navigate specialist services, such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support, which can take years to access and there is almost no structure psychological support for themselves.
Both solutions will be developed on the Cogniss no-code digital health platform, before receiving bespoke support from the Health Innovation Network, including identification of pilot sites, study design, evidence generation, economic evaluation, with the aim of supporting adoption into NHS pathways.
The Women’s Digital Health Challenge 2025 aims to accelerate the development of patient-facing digital health solutions that address urgent priorities in women’s health.
Applications were invited to address priorities for women’s health including, but not limited to, menopause, maternal and perinatal care, gynaecological cancers, fertility, mental health, pelvic and cardiovascular health, to improve health equity. The winning solutions were selected by an expert judging panel that included representatives from the World Health Organisation, the Scottish Government and Digital Health and Care Wales, for their potential to address significant, systemic gaps in care.
From February 2026, Professor Challacombe and Dr Martin will join a 12-month programme delivered by Cogniss, the Health Innovation Network and Amazon Web Services (AWS), alongside a global cohort of innovators yet to be selected.
Challacombe said, “Several of the health experts building this app with me have lived through HG themselves. We bring the clinical reality and the first-hand understanding of the condition. With the national charity Pregnancy Sickness Support beside us, we want to build a solution that makes a difference to the 3.6% of pregnancies impacted by this devastating condition.”
Dr. Martin said, “Mothers supporting children with mental health or developmental challenges are often coping at home, waiting for for CAMHS support, or managing their child’s distress between appointments and trying to keep everything else going.
“HearHer is designed to provide evidence-based, personalised psychological support during those critical gaps, helping mothers to sustain their own wellbeing while they care for their children.”
