MTN Group Foundation and the Gates Foundation have launched a four-year AI-enabled maternal health initiative in Nigeria designed to expand access to healthcare support for 500,000 women by 2030.
The Nigeria Maternal Health Multiplier is backed by an initial investment of approximately $25 million from MTN and the Gates Foundation and will combine artificial intelligence, mobile connectivity and digital health tools to support women throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
Beyond reaching women directly, the initiative will provide digital tools to 5,000 frontline health workers and support 500 health facilities across Nigeria.
Bringing AI Closer to Pregnant Women
The platform will use AI-enabled, phone-based decision-support tools to provide pregnant women with access to health guidance, while affordable smartphones and mobile data will help address some of the connectivity barriers that can prevent women from accessing digital health services.
Frontline health workers will also receive connected devices that can provide real-time guidance and help identify warning signs associated with pregnancy and childbirth complications.
Participating primary healthcare facilities will receive improved connectivity as part of the programme, with the partners aiming to ensure that access to digital health support is not determined by a woman’s location.
The initiative will essentially connect women, healthcare workers and primary healthcare facilities through one digital health ecosystem.
Why Nigeria?
Nigeria is the first market selected for the Maternal Health Multiplier, with MTN and the Gates Foundation pointing to the country’s ongoing maternal health challenges.
The organisations said only 59% of women in Nigeria complete four or more antenatal care visits, highlighting gaps in access and continuity of maternal healthcare.
The programme will build on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) and is designed to complement existing government health programmes rather than operate independently of the health system.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani described the partnership as an example of how Nigeria’s digital transformation can be applied to critical areas such as healthcare.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Ali Pate also said the initiative would work alongside existing health systems while strengthening the support available to frontline health workers.
A Partnership Between Technology and Healthcare
The initiative brings together MTN’s connectivity infrastructure, mobile financial services and device distribution capabilities with the Gates Foundation’s experience in maternal and child health, digital health, responsible AI and scaling healthcare interventions.
The partners say the AI tools are being developed specifically for Nigerian mothers and frontline health workers, with the goal of making relevant health information more accessible.
If the initial implementation proves successful, MTN said the model could eventually be expanded into other African markets.
For now, the focus is clear: use AI, smartphones, connectivity and frontline healthcare to bring maternal health support closer to hundreds of thousands of Nigerian women.
