Safe and Joyful Pregnancies for Families in Kenya
Summary
In 2024, Malaica committed to adapt and expand its midwife-led online maternal health platform to support 10,000 women in Garissa, Kenya in accessing quality pregnancy care and safely giving birth to healthy children by 2028. Co-creating and testing its products iteratively through its new innovation lab, Malaica will adapt its midwifery care to a group format where women in the same month of pregnancy will form circles for pregnancy education and care, supported by a midwife, and will access in-person clinic-based care. Mothers will be recruited in partnership with clinics and through social media and word of mouth, and midwives will receive additional training to ensure quality of care. In addition to facilitating midwife-led pregnancy care groups, Malaica will leverage technology to streamline and improve its online platform, reducing its cost from $10 to $2, and effectively reaching the women who need it most in Kenya and beyond.
Approach
Malaica commits to adapting and expanding its midwife-led online maternal health platform to ensure that 10,000 women in Garissa, Kenya access quality pregnancy care and safely give birth to healthy children by 2028.
Malaica will first develop an innovation lab in Garissa where new product versions will be co-created and rolled-out with pregnant women. Through this innovation lab, Malaica will adapt its midwifery care to a group format, where women in the same month of pregnancy will form circles, supported by a midwife with 1-on-1 consultations as needed. Midwives will also ensure that women access in-person pregnancy care at local partner clinics. Mothers will be recruited in partnership with clinics and through social media and word of mouth. Evidence shows that this pregnancy circle model, paired with the highest quality care available to participants, has the potential to empower women and drive improved health outcomes (Wiggins et al. 2020) .
In addition, Malaica will leverage technology to streamline and improve its online platform. Malaica will continue working with AI tools such as OpenAI, Gemini, and Llama to support midwives with documenting and summarizing patient histories. Personalized reminders within the Malaica app are designed to increase compliance with WHO guidelines, such as attendance at four antenatal care clinic visits by pregnant mothers, and automations will be used for onboarding and to streamline payment processes. Last but not least, AI tools will provide valuable answers to non care-related questions from parents in the Somali language (both text and audio) .
Reducing the cost from $10 to $2 per mother per month, these adaptations will make the program accessible for a low income population without compromising quality and without the need for continuous donor financing. Malaica feels confident that it can execute this project to eventually benefit mothers across East Africa.
Action Plan
Malaica will first set up an innovation lab in Garissa, Kenya, to lead the development of the adapted pregnancy care model. Throughout the course of this Commitment Malaica will undergo iterative implementation waves to reach a total of 10,000 women. Quarterly activities are as follows:
Q1 2025: Minimum Viable Product (MVP) developed, with a focus on introducing group care
Q2 2025: 100 pregnant women onboarded
Q3 2025: Second product version developed and launched, with a focus on improved community features
Q4 2025: 500 pregnant women onboarded (cumulative) Q1 2026: Third product version developed and launched, with a focus on automation and AI
Q2 2026: 2,000 pregnant women onboarded (cumulative) Q3 2026: Fourth product version developed and launched, with a focus on operational excellence
Q4 2026: 5,000 pregnant women onboarded (cumulative) Q1 2027: Final draft of the impact report available
Q2 2027: Final draft of the health economics available
Q3 2027: 10,000 pregnant women onboarded (cumulative) Q4 2027: Final report including a recommendation for further scaling
Background
Every mother and newborn has the right to survive and thrive, and the loss of any life is a tragedy. Maternal and neonatal mortality are largely preventable, and it is globally accepted that the current mortality rates, prominently covered under SDG Targets 3.1 and 3.2, are unacceptable.
Frustratingly, the latest data shows that maternal mortality has increased in many parts of the world. In Kenya it soured to the same figure it was 20 years ago; for every 100,000 live births, nearly 530 women die (World Bank 2024) .
Evidence shows that longitudinal, midwife-led care can strongly improve maternal health outcomes. However, there is a global shortage of nurse-midwives, most acutely felt in African countries. Innovative, scalable methods to increase access to midwifery care and increase the efficiency of midwives are crucial.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
Malaica feels that it has the needed expertise to successfully execute this project. Besides its experience of several years working on the ground the company has a strong network of maternal health innovators around the world. However, while a part of the project can be financed by Malaica and its current partners, Malaica needs donors to finance the proposed project.
In addition to financial resources, any support to get more visibility and strengthen Malaica’s network and reputation would be highly valuable., Malaica will be happy to share its learnings with other organizations working in the maternal health space, and/or explore partnerships to jointly reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.