When it comes to maternal deaths, Nigeria sadly accounts for nearly 30 per cent of maternal deaths worldwide, while only 59 per cent of women complete four or more antenatal care visits. To address this, MTN and Gates Foundation recently launched a $25 million Maternal Health Multiplier partnership on the sidelines of the just-concluded UN General Assembly in New York, to improve access to quality maternal care for 500,000 women by 2030, through artificial intelligence, digital tools and connectivity infrastructure. ChiemelieEzeobi reports
At the moment, Nigeria accounts for nearly 30 per cent of maternal deaths worldwide, while only 59 per cent of women complete four or more antenatal care visits, highlighting the country’s maternal healthcare challenge.
So what happens when you have a first-of-its-kind platform in Nigeria that uses AI, digital tools and connectivity infrastructure to transform maternal care, with the intention of expanding to other African markets over time?
The result? You will help women access trusted maternal health guidance, while giving frontline health workers better tools to identify potential complications earlier.
The Maternal Health Multiplier Partnership that Matters
This and many more were what propelled MTN and Gates Foundation to launch a $25 million Maternal Health Multiplier in Nigeria.
The four-year partnership, which was launched on the sidelines of the just-concluded 81st Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, will expand access to AI-enabled maternal health care in Nigeria and potentially help 500,000 women access higher-quality maternal health care by 2030.
The initiative, however, goes beyond introducing artificial intelligence into healthcare. It brings together digital tools, affordable mobile devices, data access and connectivity at primary healthcare facilities in an effort to strengthen the systems through which women receive care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
Under the partnership, MTN Group Foundation and Gates Foundation are working towards a digital ecosystem that connects mothers, frontline health workers and primary healthcare facilities.
The objective is to improve access to reliable health information, support the early identification of pregnancy-related complications and strengthen the delivery of maternal healthcare, particularly in underserved communities.
By 2030, the initiative aims to reach 500,000 women with trusted health guidance, equip 5,000 frontline health workers with tools to identify potential complications early, and enable 500 health facilities to provide more consistent, higher-quality maternal healthcare.
The initiative is also structured as a four-year partnership running from 2026 to 2030, with direct and in-kind contributions from MTN and Gates Foundation forming the initial investment.
Closing the Gaps in Maternal Healthcare
The need for interventions that improve maternal health remains substantial, even as global efforts have reduced maternal deaths over the years.
Although maternal deaths worldwide have fallen by 40 per cent since 2000, however, that progress has stalled, while a woman’s chances of surviving childbirth remain heavily influenced by where she lives.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the risk of maternal death is roughly 250 times higher than in Western Europe. Nigeria’s share of global maternal deaths underscores the urgency of strengthening services and improving access to timely care.
Why you may ask. When women have limited access to regular antenatal care, warning signs associated with pregnancy and childbirth may go undetected until complications become more serious. Thus, improving access to information, professional guidance and follow-up services is an important part of the proposed intervention.
Complement Not Replace Health Professionals
However, it is pertinent to clarify that the platform is not presented as a replacement for healthcare professionals or physical health facilities. Rather, it is intended to complement existing services by improving the availability of information and strengthening the capacity of those providing care.
For women, this means having access to phone-based tools that can provide maternal health guidance. For frontline health workers, it means having digital support to help identify potential complications and respond appropriately.
The initiative also recognises that digital health solutions cannot deliver their intended benefits if the people who need them cannot afford the devices or data required to use them, or if the facilities providing care lack reliable connectivity.
Paying Emphasis on Systems Not Just AI
Now, because it’s not meant to replace healthcare professionals or focus only on the AI aspect, a central feature of the Maternal Health Multiplier is its emphasis on the systems required to make digital innovation useful in everyday healthcare delivery.
The initiative will combine AI-enabled, phone-based decision-support tools for mothers (affordable phone and data access for pregnant women) and frontline health workers with affordable smartphones, mobile data and improved connectivity at primary healthcare facilities, which would give health workers access to real-time guidance, helping them recognise warning signs and make informed decisions.
For the Gates Foundation, that question is particularly relevant to the use of artificial intelligence in health.
“AI has enormous potential to improve health, but only if its benefits reach the people who stand to gain the most,” said Mark Suzman, chief executive officer of the Gates Foundation.
He noted that market forces alone might not ensure that the benefits of new technologies reach people who cannot readily afford them. “That’s where philanthropy has a role to play: not as a substitute for investment, but as a catalyst for it,” Suzman said.
Building on Nigeria’s Existing Health Reforms
The Maternal Health Multiplier is designed to complement Nigeria’s ongoing maternal and child health reforms rather than operate separately from them.
It builds on the Federal Ministry of Health’s Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, known as MAMII, which is being deployed under the ministry’s Sector-Wide Approach.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, said the partnership reflected the need to address the foundational systems that allow innovations to be adopted and used effectively.
“For too long, the biggest barrier to improving service delivery in Nigeria, whether in health, agriculture, or education, has not been a lack of innovations, but a lack of focus on the foundational systems necessary to drive adoption,” Tijani said.
Strengthening PHCs, Frontline Workers
Welcoming the collaboration, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, emphasised on the importance of strengthening primary healthcare and empowering the frontline workers who deliver services.
“Partnerships that work with our existing health systems, rather than around them, are exactly what’s needed to reach mothers who are still falling through the cracks,” Pate said.
A Partnership that Matters
Undoubtedly, the partnership between The Gates Foundation and MTN brings together capabilities from two organisations working in different but complementary areas.
While MTN contributes connectivity infrastructure, digital inclusion capabilities, mobile financial services, device distribution networks and local market execution expertise, The Gates Foundation on the other hand, brings experience in maternal, newborn and child health, digital health innovation, responsible artificial intelligence and evidence-based scale-up.
For MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, the initiative reflects the potential of technology to make health information more accessible and relevant to individual users.
“The future of maternal health depends on ensuring that every mother, regardless of where she lives, can access the support she needs to make informed decisions throughout her journey.
“As artificial intelligence evolves, we can put trusted, locally relevant health insights directly into the hands of mothers and healthcare professionals, tailored to their unique needs and languages,” Mupita said, adding that the partnership would begin in Nigeria, with the ambition of demonstrating a model that could be scaled to improve maternal and child health outcomes across Africa.
From Ambition to Measurable Reach
The targets set for 2030 provide the clearest indication of what the partners hope to achieve through the Maternal Health Multiplier.
The proposed reach of 500,000 women, 5,000 frontline health workers and 500 health facilities places the initiative’s ambitions across three connected areas: access to information, support for healthcare delivery and the capacity of facilities to provide consistent care.
Now, whether the Maternal Health Multiplier meets its 2030 targets will be determined by implementation and the reach of its services.
However, its stated goal is clear: to use digital innovation not in isolation, but as part of a connected approach to helping more Nigerian women access trusted guidance and higher-quality maternal healthcare.