DawaMom

The health of women, mothers, and children is fundamental to development, as reflected in Sustainable Development Goals- SDGs 3(reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, and achieving universal access to reproductive health). Maternal and infant mortality serve as important indicators of the nation’s region’s, and continent’s healthcare system. 

1. Some skilled & semi-skilled health workforce trained in Sub-Sahara Africa is not employed for years by ministries of health because of limited budgets.

2. A majority of families on the continent live hand to mouth, and can not afford the luxury of health insurance. It’s an absolute tragedy that the skilled & semi-skilled healthcare workers in Sub-Sahara Africa can not afford healthcare services.

3. The populations most affected are middle & low-income communities because a number of factors create barriers to quality job opportunities. The barriers include quality networks with jobs and the socio-economic status of these workers. 

4. Approximately 810 women die daily from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth with 86 % of them in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. 

In Sub-Sahara Africa, thousands of skilled and semi-skilled health workers are unemployed due to limited health budgets by governments. This problem is worsening each year with thousands more healthcare students in training institutions finishing training. The limited healthcare workers in health facilities are overworked and in turn, have reduced quality service provision.

With over 30 million mothers giving birth annually in unimaginable circumstances, it explains why over 540 die daily from preventable pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. Also, over 30 million babies born from mothers without access to good quality maternal health are at risk of developing congenital malformations that could have otherwise been prevented. 

Without access to good information and tools, mothers and community health workers cannot make informed decisions in time to prevent irreversible complications. The community health worker program introduced by the ministry of health has limited capacity to meet the demands of the population.

At Dawa Health, we have created a digital health platform (DawaMom) empowering expectant & nursing mothers to receive remote maternal health. The DawaMom platform is a multi-lingual AI-powered platform accessible via a smartphone app, SMS app, web portal, text/audio chat-bot, and sign language clips for persons with disabilities. 

The platform provides expectant mothers with tailored weekly maternal advice in their language of choice to help them identify risk factors that might need urgent attention. Community health workers, expectant & nursing mothers get 24/7 digital support over the DawaMom platform. Also, the DawaMom platform works together with a network of community health agents (SMAGs, CBD, Peer educators, health workers) by providing them with refresher courses and on-demand information via their mobile devices. 

DawaMom kit supplied to the health centers and mobile health agents contain a blood pressure monitor, Hemoglobin Point of Care (POC) devices, urinalysis test kits, latex gloves, and Rapid-test TORCH infection test kit. A handheld mobile ultrasound machine + associated tablet device will be provided for the pilot project. The ultrasound scan probe + associated tablet device use will be coordinated from the health centers with outreach programs to outpost health centers. Expectant mothers with reduced fetal movements will have a rapid TORCH screening to rule out TORCH infections as the cause. 

Justification for doing the rapid TORCH infection screening as first-line screening is a publication that was released by the University of Zambia School of Medicine and the University College London School of Medicine hypothesizing that despite the availability of broad-spectrum antibiotics, many infants and newborns appear to die from congenital or perinatal infections (TORCH infections). Dawa Health provides DawaMom kits to the local health centers, satellite outposts, and mobile health agents to empower them, health workers, with modern technology for better patient support. 

Each health center and mobile health agent receives DawaMom kits and each respective satellite health outpost receives a single DawaMom kit. Dawa Health provides a community health worker with a mobile gadget with digitized content and branded merchandise— t-shirts, bibs, sun hats, and umbrellas. This support will empower the CHWs and mobile agents with the needed tools and knowledge to identify 

1. Pregnant women, in the first trimester for early antenatal referrals to nearest health outposts and shelters 

2. provide point-of-care support to women in areas without quality health centers

Our DawaMom solution is creating a source of income for thousands of unemployed health workers (clinical officers and nurses) who are signing up on the platform. The DawaMom model is providing commission to the agents to inturn are using their skills to support women in their communities. We payout $5.75 for every 5 pregnant women the agent refers to the platform. Also, an agent makes $ 1.15/patient/session for patients they assess and examine while mothers get a $ 1.15 discount on their next subscription for another mother they refer to the program.

Also, we are preventing thousands of families from going into poverty from unforeseen health expenses during the perinatal period. We screen and support mothers to prevent complications. This preventative health model protects families from unplanned health expenses. Lastly, our model enables us to provide health support at a cheaper rate (50% cheaper) than traditional private health facilities. Pregnant mothers don't have on-demand maternal health support that is essential in preventing pregnancy complications.

Dawa health is an organization that is formally registered in Zambia and Zimbabwe, with a holding company registered in Delaware, USA. We have partnered with several other organizations in sub-Sahara Africa like BongoHive Ventures, Amano Capital: Brokerage and financial advisory, Livewell: Access to their network of community health workers. Zambian Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA): USSD SMS partner for the Dawa health clients. University of Zambia (UNZA) school of medicine. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zambia office and Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS), Villgro Africa, AI4D, among others.

In addition, to have an impact on maternal healthcare in more countries, we are collaborating with Villgro Africa in this project. Villgro Africa is an early-stage incubator with experience in supporting innovation to market in many African countries. Villgro Africa will assist the expansion of the Dawamom tool through its network in Africa within the project period. Our management team has over 30 years of experience in startups, clinical medicine, health economics, software engineering, and business development. This colossal challenge resonates with the founders as family members were affected by poor access to maternal health.

First, we are raising more pre-seed financing through grants to have the DawaMom onboard 50 community health agents, employ 10 clinical officers, and onboard 10 pharmacies through a referral fee and subcontracts.

Dawa Health is looking for legal support to scale the DawaMom solution across Sub-Sahara Africa.

Dawa Health is looking out for a board member with global experience in venture capital and healthcare financing to help the team navigate the raising of capital and strategy to scale across the low-and-middle-income countries. 

The DawaMom solution is a 3-layer system. Firstly, we have an AI-powered chatbot using AWS Lex engines, Lambda functions, and Kendra to provide conversational patient support to patients. This chat is available through different channels that include WhatsApp, USSD/SMS, Web, and mobile app. This support is helping patients make more informed decisions. Secondly, we work with a network of health agents who we empower with a point-of-care support kit to screen high-risk conditions in pregnancy. The data input from the agents onto the platform is analyzed to identify high-risk patients who are then referred to their nearest health center for continued support. Lastly, through the mobile and USSD/SMS app, we are able to provide mothers with weekly tailored maternal health information to help them make more informed health decisions.

Our solution is effective by decentralizing maternal health access to health agents who bring support to the patient instead of the other way round. We believe this model is building strong trust and privacy for patients to want to seek maternal health services early. Also, we are hauling health agents (clinical officers and nurses) who for the most part are qualified but haven't been deployed by their governments due to limited budgets. We are empowering the agents to use their skills while earning commission on the platform.

Our platform has been built in Javascript, mobile apps in Dart, and USSD apps in Python. The platforms use APIs to integrate with other services and automate onboarding and support from Dawa Health.

Goals for the next 12-months

Product development: We have launched v2.0.0-Beta of the DawaMom platform with an intuitive design and improvements from the feedback received from the pilot. Dawa Health will distribute 500 DawaMom kits to health agents around Lusaka and Ndola. The pilot project will be conducted in the two biggest cities in Zambia. Also, Dawa Health will procure 10 butterfly iQ probes (portable ultrasound scans) + tablet devices for doing point of care ultrasound scans to be shared among the agents. Lastly, Dawa Health will have on reserve rapid test TORCH infection screening kits and 50 point-of-care hemoglobin test meters to follow up on high-risk patients. The data collected will be used to assess the impact of the project and further train the DawaMom AI models on the platform.

Piloting and user testing: Our road map to pilot is leveraging the network of health agents we have built. We will onboard 1000 health, each to be provided with a community health worker kit to strengthen their efforts of identifying high-risk mothers in communities for referrals to health centers. The Dawa Health team will do an initial training program of 3 weeks of training the skilled health workers and community health workers associated with each local health center.

User acquisition/growth: Our user acquisition strategy is mainly through the network of community health agents. The community health agents are the point of contact on behalf of Dawa Health in the communities they are integrated into.

Goals in the next 5 years

Product development: A new DawaMom app using computer vision to automate data capturing from point-of-care test results. Dawa Health will distribute 10,00 DawaMom kits to health agents and health centers in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Tanzania. The scale will be targeted to the 17+ million mothers who give birth in Southern Africa regionally. Also, Dawa Health will procure 100 butterfly iQ probes (portable ultrasound scans) + tablet devices for doing point of care ultrasound scans to be shared among the network of agents and centers. Lastly, Dawa Health will have on reserve rapid test TORCH infection screening kits and 1000 point-of-care hemoglobin test meters to follow up on high-risk patients. The active datasets collection loops will be used to further train the DawaMom AI models on the platform.  

Scale and user service: More services like home-based postnatal services for mothers like post-C-section wound care and support will be introduced. The network of community health agents will be expanded to 30,000, each to be provided with a community health worker kit to strengthen their efforts of identifying and supporting high-risk mothers in communities for referrals to health centers. The Dawa Health team will invest in low operation cost tricycles couriers associated with health centers to support the network of health agents in communities.  

User acquisition/growth: Our user acquisition strategy will expand to village and community leadership through different public and private organizations. The community health agents, health centers, and traditional leaders are the point of contact on behalf of Dawa Health in the communities.

Dawa Health KPIs

1. Number of community health agents contracted

2. Weekly engagement of each patient on the system

3. Total number of expectant mothers on the platform

4. Total number of visits done in a month

5. Conversion rate from free trial to paying customers

6. Documented knowledge improvement [Pre-Dawa Project vs Post-Dawa Project] and pregnancy outcomes

Our DawaMom solution is creating a source of income for thousands of unemployed health workers (clinical officers and nurses) who are signing up on the platform. The DawaMom model is providing commission to the agents to inturn are using their skills to support women in their communities. We payout $5.75 for every 5 pregnant women the agent refers to the platform. Also, an agent makes $ 1.15/patient/month for patients they assess and examine.

Also, we are preventing thousands of families from going into poverty from unforeseen health expenses during the perinatal period. We screen and support mothers to prevent complications. This preventative health model protects families from unplanned health expenses. Lastly, our model enables us to provide health support at a cheaper rate than traditional health facilities.

There are several projects around the world that are building mobile clinics model businesses with the help of technology and point-of-care support. mPharma in Ghana has been scaling the mobile clinic model for cervical cancer in Ghana and Nigeria. Also, publications by UNFPA and PATH international state how early maternal health support can reduce maternal mortality by over 70%.

We measure impact by the number of women on our platform, the number of field visits achieved each month, the total commission paid to health agents, the conversion rate from the free trial to paying customers, 

Lastly, we use the success outcome percentage for pregnant women on our platform to measure the effectiveness of our solution.

The DawaMom solution is a 3-layer system. Firstly, we have an AI-powered chatbot using AWS Lex engines, Lambda functions, and Kendra to provide conversational patient support to patients. This chat is available through different channels that include WhatsApp, USSD/SMS, Web, and mobile app. This support is helping patients make more informed decisions. Secondly, we work with a network of health agents who we empower with a point-of-care support kit to screen high-risk conditions in pregnancy. The data input from the agents onto the platform is analyzed to identify high-risk patients who are then referred to their nearest health center for continued support. Lastly, through the mobile and USSD/SMS app, we are able to provide mothers with weekly tailored maternal health information to help them make more informed health decisions.

Our solution is effective by decentralizing maternal health access to health agents who bring support to the patient instead of the other way round. We believe this model is building strong trust and privacy for patients to want to seek maternal health services early. Also, we are hauling health agents (clinical officers and nurses) who for the most part are qualified but haven't been deployed by their governments due to limited budgets. We are empowering the agents to use their skills while earning commission on the platform.

Our platform has been built in Javascript, mobile apps in Dart, and USSD apps in Python. The platforms use APIs to integrate with other services and automate onboarding and support from Dawa Health.

The current Dawa Health management team includes 5 executives from two countries (Zambia and Zimbabwe). The diverse team has experience in different sectors of the economy bringing their wealth of knowledge and networks. Also, the board of directors has a diverse group of accomplished individuals from the UK, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Dawa has worked on bringing more diversity, especially in the board of advisors with experts from France, the USA, the UK, Zambia, representing 3 races and more than 5 tribes.

Our current inclusion strategy is leveraging the network of community health workers who are from low-income communities in Sub-Sahara Africa. The health workers are working as community onboarding agents for Dawa. To close the gender gap imbalance, all the community health workers we are working with are female. Also, we are empowering all the mothers on the platform by proving them with discounts for other mothers they refer to the platform.

Our current medical team consists of 4 females (clinical officers and a pharmacist) and 2 males (medical doctors).

Our DawaMom solution is creating a source of income for thousands of unemployed health workers (clinical officers and nurses) who are signing up on the platform. The DawaMom model is providing commission to the agents to inturn are using their skills to support women in their communities. We payout $5.75 for every 5 pregnant women the agent refers to the platform. Also, an agent makes $ 1.15/patient/session for patients they assess and examine.  Mothers get a 20% discount on their next subscription for another mother they refer to the program.

Also, we are preventing thousands of families from going into poverty from unforeseen health expenses during the perinatal period. We screen and support mothers to prevent complications. This preventative health model protects families from unplanned health expenses. Lastly, our model enables us to provide health support at a cheaper rate (50% cheaper) than traditional private health facilities. Pregnant mothers don't have on-demand maternal health support that is essential in preventing pregnancy complications.

We are funding our work through:

grants like Tony Elemelu Foundation (TEF), Villgro Africa, UNFPA, UNDP, MTN Zambia, 

service offering to patients and partner organizations who need to provide maternal health services to select communities

Investment capital we are currently raising a SAFE round of investment to fund the scaling process

We have received grants from Tony Elemelu Foundation (TEF), Villgro Africa, UNFPA, UNDP, MTN Zambia, ZICTA (Zambia Information and Technology Authority)

We have received investment funding from Startup Bootcamp Afritech