Empowering mothers and saving babies for a decade.
MomConnect
MomConnect is a groundbreaking digital health initiative that provides pregnant women with prenatal, during and post-natal information and prioritises maternal and child health using mobile phones. In partnership with the South African Department of Health, MomConnect offers free services in all of South Africa’s 11 official languages and aims to improve pregnant women's and infants' health. Participation is voluntary, and pregnant women can stop receiving messages anytime.
MomConnect is designed to help reduce maternal and child deaths by providing important health information and feedback mechanisms for pregnant women.
Cellphone technology has been successfully used in various countries to improve maternal and child health outcomes. In South Africa, most people, including pregnant women, have access to cell phones, making it an effective tool to deliver valuable health interventions quickly.
MomConnect has been dedicated to digitally capturing the details of all pregnancies registered in the national public healthcare system at the earliest opportunity for nearly ten years. The initiative is committed to improving the well-being of mothers and their infants, with the ultimate goal of reducing maternal and infant mortality rates. Through continuous efforts to improve healthcare access and service quality for pregnant women, new mothers, and babies under the age of two, MomConnect seeks to offer holistic support throughout the entire maternity process.
Challenge
Maternal health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa exhibit significant disparities compared to other regions of the world. In 2020, approximately 287,000 women lost their lives during or after pregnancy and childbirth.* Specifically, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for roughly 70% (202,000) of these maternal deaths, and many of them were avoidable.*
Despite international efforts to improve maternal health, progress in the region has stagnated, with inconsistent advancements observed across different countries. The region's inequitable access to and quality of maternal health services, including antenatal care, delivery, and postpartum care, presents formidable challenges that require immediate attention. To effectively address these disparities and achieve global targets, collaborative efforts among political leaders, community stakeholders, healthcare systems, and other partners are critical to implement sustainable solutions and uplift maternal health outcomes in the region.
Complications leading to maternal death can arise unexpectedly during pregnancy and childbirth, posing risks to the well-being of pregnant individuals. However, proper care can detect and prevent many of these risks. Preventing maternal deaths largely hinges on skilled healthcare providers, attending births and offering timely and quality obstetric services to address complications effectively.
Sources:
*World Health Organisation maternal mortality (Feb 2023)
*UNICEF data on maternal mortality (Feb 2023)
Results
In South Africa, mothers have seen significant benefits through the decade-old intervention, such as a 70% boost in family planning usage. MomConnect has also shown remarkable success throughout its history, reaching over 4.7 million users and 98.6% of mothers recommending it. With over 422k monthly active users in South Africa, the platform has engaged users ten times more effectively on WhatsApp than on SMS. Additionally, receiving over 25k help desk messages per month demonstrates the high level of user interaction and the positive impact of MomConnect. Moreover, the fact that 95% of public clinics in South Africa have registered mothers onto the platform and 60% of mothers giving birth in public clinics are registered are further indications of its widespread adoption and effectiveness in serving the community.
Implementation partners: National Department of Health (South Africa), Reach Digital Health and Health Information Systems Program - South Africa
Looking forward:
Reach has chosen maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) as a priority area due to its potential for wide-reaching impact; soon, our interventions will measure high-impact behaviour change in individuals. Reach wants to expand its maternal and child health platform-based implementation to new countries, including Zanzibar, ensuring a broader response to maternal and child mortality.
