Our solution is called DawaMom Early Access Programme

In our communities in Sub saharan Africa, a lot of mothers do find it hard to access quality maternal healthcare with their areas which forces them to travel long distances in order to access even simple consultations. Some do have a phobia of going to clinics or hospitals and some have an issue whereby when they go to the hospital or clinic that is when the sickness accelerate which on the side of the doctor or nurse,if these people are checked, the results thereof will not tell the true reflection of what these people are going through. With the rate of maternal mortality in Sub saharan Africa, which is two thirds of about 810 mothers daily globally. Over 30 million mothers do get pregnant annually and over 70 percent of these are in the sub saharan market. Due to these problems women are facing, we created our platform which does the giving of information, screening, profiling and health management tool to avert these issues by also working with a qualified network of community health agents.

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 smart-phone app, SMS app, web-portal, a text/audio chat-bot, and sign language clips for persons with disabilities. Community health workers,
expectant & nursing mothers get 24/7 digital support over the DawaMom platform. Also, the DawaMom platform, work 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 Community health Agents  contains a blood pressure monitor, Hemoglobin Point of Care (POC) devices, urinalysis test kits, latex gloves, and Rapid-test TORCH infection test kit.  Dawa Health provides support which empowers the CHWs with the needed tools and knowledge to identify, pregnant women in the first trimester for early antenatal referrals to nearest health posts and shelters. The data collected from community health workers and health centers like ultrasound scans will be wired to qualified
radiologists for remote interpretation.

Our target market at Dawa health is the girl who wants to become a mother,the mothers who are pregnant and those mothers who would have given birth, thus we offer pre-natal, natal and post natal services. Currently, the target market is widely underserved in Sub-Saharan Africa in that many of our target marketare forced to walk longer journeys to access simple consultation services at the nearest health post and some times due to poor road networks they cant find transport along the way, some have a phobia of going to the hospital and some will go to the clinics or hospitals only to wait longer queues or when they arrive at the hospital, their condition worsens because of the environment, hence the reason we are adamant on doing home visits as they allow flexibility for both the patient and the community health worker. With home visits there is flexibility in scheduling and in getting health delivery. Expectant and new mothers using the DawaMom platform are able to receive reminders of appointments, antenatal visits, and tailored information to help them make informed decisions. Through the DawaMom platform, women are getting 24/7 digital support to help them seek early and timely maternal health support. Currently, the DawaMom platform is available in Lozi, Nyanja, Bemba, English, and sign language content. 

Our team at Dawa Health boasts of over 30 years combined working in different fields in the private and public sector including business administration, finance, clinical medicine, software development, medicine and clinicians. We have so far been working closely with community representatives and also past and potential clients in understanding their needs. From the month of February we have been visiting pregnant women across Lusaka Zambia getting to understand them whilst serving them. In that time period we managed to have about 700 sign ups and over 90 percent of safe deliveries for those that we managed to visit. With every woman is a different condition altogether, we have managed to visit disabled people who are pregnant, some who are HIV positive and some who have never been to a clinic which really helps us understand our position and also which resonated with our idea of not segregating. We have a phone number they can call and platforms they reach us and we have always been open to listening to their concerns to an extend where most of them were giving referrals to their friends. Whenever we visit a patient, we get to understand in our product offering what could have been left out which is vital since every condition is different and we go back to the drawing board and we include that.

The barriers we face are that in our development side we have few resources which need to be improved in order to build systems faster than the current ones, on a cultural scale there is still need for trust which takes time due to issues where a decision for a visit to a pregnant lady has to be discussed with the husband and without a husband's approval nothing goes ahead and also an issue which is religious where some do not believe that they need clinical aid to give birth as they still cling to their cultural beliefs hence a stronger need to engage with community and traditional leaders. The market barriers we still face range from having adequate partnerships in terms of supplies we need in providing our services and also implementation partners in the areas we deem the areas we are serving. The financial aid we need is to be able to scale in acquiring equipment to serve our models to the communities in which we are vested in.

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

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

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.

Community health workers are the ones who collect the information because they are the ones who visit and check medical parameters from patients. They use Whatsapp platform, record sheets but we emphasize more on the usage of our system which allows for prompt data collection and dissemination. Medical data is very delicate and needs protection of which we teach them so that our clients' information remains safe. For the job they do, they are paid 30 percent of the subscription of the people they visit.

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).