FemConnect provides a women's health platform for access.
According to the South African Medical Journal (SAMJ), Contraceptive prevalence is 49.1 %, usage is lower in black Africans and younger women, due to a limited range of methods available for those who use the free public system.
More than 60% of women and girls who are of childbearing age access contraceptives through public clinics for free. Due to the high numbers of people visiting clinics daily, patients usually have long waiting hours (a minimum of 3 hours) just to collect contraceptives. This affects school and work attendance as clinics only operate on weekdays and not on weekends. At times, clinics experience product shortages which result in risks of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
Private health care systems work differently and it is costly for the majority of women who cannot afford medical aid. Usually, a patient visits a doctor for medical consultation, The doctor issues a repeat prescription for the patient to purchase their contraceptives at a pharmacy every month for up to six months. For some, this means additional travel costs to get to a pharmacy in the city because most townships do not have local pharmacies.
In the backdrop of these reproductive health barriers, sexual health and period poverty needs attention. FemConnect aims to provide a holistic solution that targets the various challenges associated with access to SRHR.
We have targeted 10 000 women and girls split across various areas:
Western Cape, Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal with as key target areas where we will at least serve 7000 girls and women. These were targeted as key areas due to the following reasons:
Mostly women from these areas expressed interest in the app in our initial research from 2018.
According to the gender stats from Statistics South Africa in 2017, approximately 17% of girls aged 12–19 years who were not attending an educational institution reported having fallen pregnant in the 12 months prior to the survey. KwaZulu-Natal had the highest proportion, followed by Eastern Cape and Western Cape.
Lastly, these three provinces have the highest COVID 19 reported with the Western Cape named as the pandemic epicentre in Africa.
We use our digital platform to deliver human-centred and rights-based SRHR services. Our role is to facilitate and digitize access to SRHR telehealth, period poverty support and GBV support in an easier, flexible and stress-free life for those who face challenges in accessing quality healthcare.
FemConnect for Impact:
Currently, the mobile app is a social impact tool that allows matching donors with girls who need sanitary products digitally. Donors can be ordinary people, corporates and organisations who would like to donate toward purchasing sanitary pads for girls in disadvantaged communities. In turn; young girls who require sanitary products can also use the platform to request for help safely without any stigma, shame or having any personal information shared publicly. FemConnect facilitates the sourcing of donations and distributes to communities, non-profit organisations working with girls and any other place where the menstrual products are needed. In future, the app will allow women to enjoy the benefits of the web-based platform which has the full functionality features of our solution.
FemConnect for Womxn:
Our web-based marketplace allows users to purchase women's health products (feminine hygiene, yoni products and many other locally produced brands). Users can purchase, donate or gift feminine hygiene products. It is a platform to empower emerging entrepreneurs who manufacture and sell products that cater to women's health.
Digital family planning services:
Our platform allows women to enjoy the benefits of a telemedicine platform that can be used to do digital family planning services in partnership with clinics, pharmacies and private practices in three easy steps;
Register as a user
Complete an online screening approved by a medical expert.
Once a medical expert approves the online screening; dispensing takes place.
We collect from the family planning clinic or a locker at a government clinic and retail shop to deliver to the user.
In addition to technology, FemConnect plays a crucial role in SRHR education to help mentor and support young women. In the future, we foresee growing our technology feature set to support Gender-Based violence and online counselling services for mental wellness.
Our primary user is anyone who identifies as a young woman aged 16 - 24 years old. They are mostly black and coloured youth and woman residing in rural and semi-rural communities who are on contraceptives and need feminine hygiene products. Young families who want to control their family structures.
Key personas:
Femi: Young woman, focused on school, personal development and career growth. She does want not children (or she might have one already) she is on contraceptives but looking for convenience and education on what is good for her body. She does not have time to sit at the clinic for hours, she wishes she could use a contraceptive that is easy to administer by herself but her public clinic does not offer those options. She does not know of any other contraceptive options available in South Africa, apart from what is available at the clinic. She wishes that she could be using a contraceptive that is good for her body but does not have money for private care.
Luni: Luni is a high school teenager from a disadvantaged home. Her family struggles to make ends meet. Her parents cannot afford to buy her sanitary products and often misses school due to menstruation. She needs guidance and education on her SRHR. Like many girls at her age she is experimenting sexually (or talking about sex with her peers) but she is too scared to go to the local clinic and start using contraceptives because she will be judged. She has a lot of questions about her sexual and reproductive health, she wants to guidance on places she can reach out to talk about the things she does not understand without being judged.
Secondary beneficiaries are males aged 14 -35 years old.
Boys, Men, Parents, greater community and the public between the ages of 15 - 30 who are keen on being ambassadors of change. These are our youth leaders, our speakers, our campaign partners and other institutions who are passionate about doing work around sexual and reproductive health.
Vendors who sell feminine hygiene products, family planning services and SRHR educational programmes.
Our team is from the communities we serve, we understand a what a lack of access to quality healthcare can do to a young womans life. We are passionate about caring and supporting girls going through period poverty.
- Build fundamental, resilient, and people-centered health infrastructure that makes essential services, equipment, and medicines more accessible and affordable for communities that are currently underserved;
- Prototype
We hope to address the issues around period poverty and a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health in South Africa. We are a country that has high inquality and we want to bridge the gap to provide sufficient service using digital means.
- Financial (e.g. improving accounting practices, pitching to investors)
FemConnect is the first of its kind in South Africa. It has the potential to transform SRHR and has the power to shift the dynamics of lack of access to quality healthcare for all.
We use our digital platform to deliver human-centred and rights-based SRHR services. Our role is to facilitate and digitize access to SRHR telehealth, period poverty support and GBV support in an easier, flexible and stress-free life for those who face challenges in accessing quality healthcare.
FemConnect for Impact:
Currently, the mobile app is a social impact tool that allows matching donors with girls who need sanitary products digitally. Donors can be ordinary people, corporates and organisations who would like to donate toward purchasing sanitary pads for girls in disadvantaged communities. In turn; young girls who require sanitary products can also use the platform to request for help safely without any stigma, shame or having any personal information shared publicly. FemConnect facilitates the sourcing of donations and distributes to communities, non-profit organisations working with girls and any other place where the menstrual products are needed. In future, the app will allow women to enjoy the benefits of the web-based platform which has the full functionality features of our solution.
FemConnect for Womxn:
Our web-based marketplace allows users to purchase women's health products (feminine hygiene, yoni products and many other locally produced brands). Users can purchase, donate or gift feminine hygiene products. It is a platform to empower emerging entrepreneurs who manufacture and sell products that cater to women's health.
Digital family planning services:
Our platform allows women to enjoy the benefits of a telemedicine platform that can be used to do digital family planning services in partnership with clinics, pharmacies and private practices in three easy steps;
Register as a user
Complete an online screening approved by a medical expert.
Once a medical expert approves the online screening; dispensing takes place.
We collect from the family planning clinic or a locker at a government clinic and retail shop to deliver to the user.
In addition to technology, FemConnect plays a crucial role in SRHR education to help mentor and support young women. In the future, we foresee growing our technology feature set to support Gender-Based violence and online counselling services for mental wellness.
By looking and monitoring the number of women and girls who can benefit from our solution, we have to date helped 350 girls with sanitary pads and are introducing a digital SRHR technology to enable easy access to quality healthcare.
In our quest to strengthen our organisation and change social norms. The overall vision to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services using innovative patient-centric technology, online education and youth-led experiences to reach 15000 beneficiaries in South Africa by 2023. This success can be measured by the successful delivery of the following milestones.
Milestone 1: We want to strengthen our team and product capabilities to deliver an impactful, quality campaign to reach the target of reaching 15 000 beneficiaries by 2023*This includes app users and sanitary drive beneficiaries*
Milestone 2: Strengthen and expand online education, awareness and engagement on sexual and reproductive health
without fear of stigma and taboo. Reaching 50 000 online users by the end of 2023.
Milestone 3: Expand app footprint from two provinces to nine provinces in South Africa. A fully functional mobile app that allows women to access contraceptives, monthlies, online doctor consultations, medical advice and donation of sanitary pads to disadvantaged communities through the mobile app. To reach a target of 300 000 users by the end of 2023.
Milestone 4:
Host out of school, youth-led engagements, social experiments and the 1st Sexual and Reproductive Health "unconference" youth exchange. Motivate men and boys to actively be involved in SRHR educational initiative and sanitary drives. Reaching 1 million South Africans.
We have an online platform and are in the process of developing a mobile app.
- A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successful
- Internet of Things
- Software and Mobile Applications
- 3. Good Health and Well-being
- 5. Gender Equality
- South Africa
- Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
Our team is made up of very inclusive and diverse group. We value inclusivity and diversity in our work daily.
We offer a B2B2C model. We also provide an online donation platform to help support girls.
- Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)
We have a product line of feminine hygiene products which will keep us sustainable in long term.
We started a range of sanitary products, tampons and a teen starter kit for young girls.