Tanzanian startup Afya Mama has developed an open-source platform that allows users to search for maternal information, and answers questions and concerns pertaining to pregnancy, childbirth, motherhood and reproductive health via SMS and its website.
Launched in 2021 as Afya Bora, a telemedicine platform that helped to reduce patient congestion in Tanzanian hospitals, the startup pivoted in August 2023 in an online search engine for maternal and reproductive health services and products.
Afya Mama was born, led by founder and CEO Reginald Runyoro. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), at least 25 million women in Tanzania lack access to maternal care and reproductive health education.
“This has led to more than 250,000 women dying every year in Tanzania from pregnancy related issues just because they lacked the right and accurate information, tips and education,” Runyoro told Disrupt Africa.
“This is an amazing opportunity or gap that needs innovation, a dedicated team and support to help to continue to spread access to health information.”
Afya Mama is doing just that, using a WhatsApp chatbot and AI assistant to assist women at every step of the maternal and reproductive journeys – from asking questions and browsing for reproductive and baby products, to engaging with SMEs to deliver appropriate health content and products to women.
Runyoro said Afya Mama, which raised funding from the HealthInc Amsterdam Accelerator in 2022 and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, had established partnerships with reputable maternal and reproductive health organisations, dispensaries and midwives.
“This collaboration is helping us to raise awareness about the importance of reliable information to reduce maternal mortality and child birth death in Tanzania,” he said.
Currently, the startup operates in the Arusha region of Tanzania, which has a total population of around one million people.
“In the next two years, we are looking forward to expanding our services to other regions in Tanzania, and thereafter scale the business to Uganda and Rwanda,” said Runyoro. “Our expansion plan will be based on marketing and sales investments as well as creating more partnerships with new and existing organisations in the health and wellness sector in Africa.”
Afya Mama makes money via its SMS subscription service, as well as online display advertisements, and is generating decent revenues.
“The biggest difficulties we face launching and managing the business is the lack of public support, due to a number of reasons including cultural taboos, historical lack of awareness, and lack of proactive solutions. Some of the topics such as menopause, bleeding, abortion, obstetric fistula, postnatal depression, mental health and preterm birth are avoided to be discussed openly,” said Runyoro.
“We plan to mitigate this challenge by raising awareness through SMS distribution and events to women about the importance of maternal care and reproductive health in our communities. The use of social media campaigns and billboard presentations may play a crucial role to capture an audience who will be bombarded by health information and education concerning pregnancy, motherhood, childbirth and reproductive health.”
