Beyond Birth: Sustaining Child Health & Nutrition through a Nationally Scaled Platform, MomConnect.

Reach Digital Health

Africa

2026

Project Summary

MomConnect is an AI-enhanced digital health platform designed to address high maternal and child mortality in South Africa. Using low-cost WhatsApp and SMS, it delivers stage-based health education and triage directly to pregnant women, mothers and caregivers. It specifically targets underserved women in low-resource communities facing systemic healthcare barriers.

MomConnect has reached more than 5.2 million users across 95% of public clinics since its launch in 2014. Its behaviourally informed design has driven a 96% antenatal care attendance rate, 89% infant immunization rate, and 17% higher breastfeeding uptake in first-time mothers. MomConnect was co-designed with the South African National Department of Health (NDoH) and is in transition to government ownership for sustainability. MomConnect is being replicated in other African nations; an early replication is already live in Mozambique.

Presentation of the Organization

Reach Digital Health brings 18 years of experience in designing, delivering, and scaling digital health solutions that connect individuals, communities, and health systems to personalised health support and information. It leverages simple, widespread mobile technologies (SMS and WhatsApp), enhanced by AI-driven capabilities, to drive improved health outcomes in maternal and child health, build health worker skills and resilience, and provide administrators with data to strengthen healthcare systems across Africa.