MTN Group Foundation and the Gates Foundation have launched an AI-enabled maternal health platform in Nigeria that aims to help 500,000 women access healthcare guidance by 2030.
The four-year initiative, called the Nigeria Maternal Health Multiplier, will also provide 5,000 frontline health workers with digital tools to identify complications during pregnancy and childbirth, while supporting 500 health facilities.
The partnership comes with an initial investment of approximately $25 million from MTN and the Gates Foundation between 2026 and 2030. The organisations said the investment is intended to support the initial implementation in Nigeria and help attract additional funding for future expansion.
The initiative was announced on Wednesday at Semafor’s Next 3 Billion event in New York, held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
AI tools, phones and connectivity
The Maternal Health Multiplier will combine AI-enabled, phone-based decision-support tools with access to affordable smartphones and mobile data for pregnant women.
Frontline health workers will also receive connected devices designed to provide real-time guidance and help them identify warning signs associated with pregnancy and childbirth complications.
The programme will also improve connectivity at participating primary healthcare facilities, with the organisations saying this is intended to ensure that access to digital health services is not determined by where a woman lives.
According to MTN and the Gates Foundation, the platform will connect women, frontline health workers and primary healthcare facilities through a single digital health ecosystem.
The initiative will focus on providing support throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, particularly for women in underserved communities.
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The organisations said the programme will build on Nigeria’s Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), which is being deployed by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under its Sector-Wide Approach.
MTN selects Nigeria as first market
Nigeria has been selected as the first market for the Maternal Health Multiplier, with the organisations pointing to the country’s continuing maternal health challenges.
MTN and the Gates Foundation said only 59% of women in Nigeria complete four or more antenatal care visits, leaving some pregnancy warning signs undetected.
The initiative is intended to complement existing government maternal and child health programmes rather than operate separately from the country’s health system.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said the partnership demonstrates how digital transformation can be applied to healthcare.
“Partnerships like this reflect the kind of collaboration we want to see more of in Nigeria — one that puts the country’s digital transformation to work for the people who need it most,” Tijani said.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Ali Pate said the initiative would work with existing health systems and support frontline health workers.
The partnership brings together MTN’s connectivity infrastructure, mobile financial services and device distribution networks with the Gates Foundation’s experience in maternal and child health, digital health, responsible AI and scaling health interventions.
The Gates Foundation said the AI tools are being developed for Nigerian mothers and frontline health workers, with the aim of making health information more accessible.
MTN said the programme could eventually provide a model for expansion into other African markets after its initial implementation in Nigeria.
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