Nigeria has Africa’s largest and fastest-growing population, and contributes 20% of the world’s maternal deaths annually (1,047 deaths per 100,000 live births). In June this year, we secured a partnership with African nonprofit eHealth Africa (eHA) to test our SMS-based digital health tool PROMPTS as a cost-effective and quickly scalable tool to support Nigerian mothers through their pregnancy journey.
The aim of the pilot is to adapt the platform for the Nigerian context and assess its uptake and engagement with 25,000 mothers in Kano State, located in the country’s northern region.
Similar to our approach in Kenya, mothers will be consensually enrolled to PROMPTS at health facilities – specifically within the network of public hospitals, health centers, and outreach clinics under EHA Clinics, eHA’s sister organization.
Over the last few months, Jacaranda has been working to prime PROMPTS for the expansion. We have recently extended our customized Large Language Model (the technology that underpins the PROMPTS helpdesk) to converse in Hausa and Yoruba, ensuring that Nigerian mothers are supported in a language they can understand and act on.
We are working to customize the PROMPTS helpdesk to better classify language and context-specific questions from mothers, as well as collect specific data (via SMS surveys) on their experience of care in the facilities they visit.
Meanwhile, we have been adding and adapting messaging content within the platform to align with the local context and increase relevance for mothers in Kano State. Alongside the standard suite gestation stage-specific messaging and appointment reminders, we are introducing content to address specific, yet widespread pregnancy-related myths and misconceptions, alongside malaria-focused content, given the disease’s high prevalence (32.4%) in Kano State.
eHA will be gathering further information from Community Health Extension Workers on the needs and experiences of mothers in this setting to inform further messaging adaptations over the coming weeks.
With a successful pilot, our goal is to expand PROMPTS to reach an additional 100,000 Nigerian mothers in the following year and over 1.5 million mothers in the next three years, leveraging eHA’s extensive connections within the Nigerian public health sector to drive sustainable growth for the platform.
“The collaboration between eHealth Africa and Jacaranda in Nigeria has immense potential to further the work already being done to improve maternal and child healthcare in Kano State. By combining Jacaranda’s expertise in digital engagement of moms with EHA’s robust infrastructure and deep understanding of the local landscape, we can create and scale solutions to improve healthcare outcomes for mothers and babies, as well as amplifying women’s voices. This partnership is not just about expanding reach but also about sharing knowledge, fostering innovation, and ultimately, improving health outcomes for moms and babies across Nigeria.” – Rachael Alldian, Director of Global Programs & Product, Jacaranda Health
“At eHealth Africa, we are committed to leveraging technology to bridge healthcare gaps in underserved communities. Our partnership with Jacaranda to implement the PROMPTS platform in Nigeria is a significant step towards achieving this goal. Leveraging our indigenous knowledge and Jacaranda’s digital expertise, we are well-positioned to significantly improve maternal and child health outcomes in Kano State and beyond. We are excited to see how this initiative will improve the lives of countless mothers and their families.” — Atef Fawaz, Executive Director, eHealth Africa
