MTN, Gates Foundation Launch $25m AI Maternal Health Initiative for 500,000 Nigerian Women

MTN, Gates Foundation Launch $25m AI Maternal Health Initiative for 500,000 Nigerian Women

MTN Group Foundation and the Gates Foundation have launched a four-year AI-enabled maternal healthcare initiative in Nigeria with a target of helping 500,000 women access higher-quality maternal health services by 2030.

Known as the Nigeria Maternal Health Multiplier, the initiative will combine artificial intelligence, mobile technology, affordable smartphones, data access and improved connectivity to support pregnant women, frontline health workers and primary healthcare facilities, particularly in underserved communities.

The partnership, announced in New York on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81), comes with an initial investment of approximately $25 million between 2026 and 2030 through direct and in-kind contributions from MTN and the Gates Foundation.

The organisations said the initial funding is intended to serve as an anchor investment that can attract additional resources and potentially support the expansion of the model into other African markets.

Under the programme, 5,000 frontline health workers will be equipped with digital tools designed to help them identify pregnancy and childbirth complications earlier, while 500 health facilities will be supported to provide more consistent and higher-quality maternal healthcare.

The programme will focus on three major areas: AI-enabled, phone-based decision-support tools for mothers and health workers; affordable smartphones and mobile data for pregnant women; and improved connectivity at primary healthcare facilities.

The digital tools are expected to provide women with trusted health information throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, while giving frontline workers access to real-time guidance that can assist in identifying warning signs and responding to complications.

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The initiative is designed to work within Nigeria’s existing healthcare system rather than operate as a separate medical service. It will build on the Federal Government’s Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), which is being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under the country’s Sector-Wide Approach to health reform.

Nigeria was selected as the first implementation market because of the scale of its maternal health challenges.

According to MTN and the Gates Foundation, Nigeria accounts for nearly 30 per cent of maternal deaths globally, despite progress made in reducing maternal mortality over the past decade. The organisations also said only about 59 per cent of Nigerian women complete four or more antenatal care visits, potentially leaving some pregnancy complications undetected until they become severe.

Globally, maternal deaths have fallen by about 40 per cent since 2000, but progress has slowed in recent years. The organisations said the risk of maternal death remains dramatically higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in Western Europe.

The MTN-Gates initiative is therefore being positioned as a technology intervention aimed at closing some of the gaps that prevent women and health workers from receiving or acting on timely health information.

MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said technology could make maternal healthcare more personalised, predictive and accessible.

Mupita said the partnership would seek to put trusted and locally relevant health information directly into the hands of mothers and healthcare professionals, with the ambition of developing a model that could eventually be scaled across Africa.

Gates Foundation Chief Executive Officer Mark Suzman said artificial intelligence has significant potential to improve healthcare, but its benefits should reach people who are most likely to be excluded by the cost of emerging technologies.

The foundation said its contribution would include expertise in maternal, newborn and child health, digital health innovation, responsible AI and evidence-based scale-up, while MTN would contribute its telecommunications infrastructure, digital inclusion capabilities, device distribution networks and local market experience.

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, welcomed the initiative, saying one of the country’s challenges has been ensuring that useful innovations are supported by the systems needed to drive adoption.

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Tijani said partnerships such as the MTN-Gates programme could help translate Nigeria’s digital transformation into practical services for people who need them most.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, also welcomed the partnership, saying strengthening primary healthcare and empowering frontline health workers are central to the government’s health-sector reforms.

Pate said initiatives that work with existing health systems could help reach women who remain underserved.

The new programme comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality through MAMII and other interventions.

MAMII, launched in November 2024, targets 172 local government areas across 33 states. According to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the targeted areas represent about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s LGAs but account for approximately 55 per cent of maternal deaths.

The government has set a target of reducing maternal mortality by 30 per cent and neonatal mortality by 20 per cent in the targeted areas by 2028, while providing free, timely and comprehensive maternal healthcare to about 2.9 million pregnant women.

The Federal Government said more than 250 health facilities were implementing MAMII as of September 2026 in states including Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Ogun.

More than 32,000 women and 1,700 newborns had reportedly benefited from emergency obstetric and neonatal care under the initiative, while the National Emergency Medical Treatment and Ambulance Service had transported nearly 79,000 beneficiaries to appropriate healthcare facilities.

The government also reported a 20 per cent increase in fourth-visit antenatal attendance in MAMII-supported areas during one quarter.

The government has simultaneously introduced incentives intended to encourage women to use maternal and newborn healthcare services.

At a September 14 event in Abuja, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare said more than 60,000 women had received free Caesarean sections and other emergency obstetric services through the National Health Insurance Authority, while more than 120,000 frontline health workers had been retrained.

The government also reported that thousands of healthcare facilities had been revitalised and more than 6,000 women affected by obstetric fistula had received corrective treatment and empowerment support.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Iziaq Salako said the 2023/2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey indicates that a Nigerian woman faces approximately a one-in-19 lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes.

He also said Nigeria accounts for close to 29 per cent of global maternal deaths, highlighting the continuing scale of the country’s maternal health burden.

The MTN-Gates initiative adds a digital component to these broader government interventions by addressing access to information and connectivity alongside conventional healthcare services.

For example, a health worker in a connected primary healthcare facility could use the programme’s digital tools to receive guidance when assessing a pregnant woman, while a woman with access to the supported phone and data services could obtain health information and follow-up support without relying exclusively on physical visits to a healthcare facility.

The initiative, however, is not intended to replace doctors, nurses, midwives or other healthcare professionals. Its stated purpose is to provide additional digital decision-support, connectivity and health information within the existing healthcare system.

The partnership also reflects growing interest in using AI in African healthcare, particularly in areas where shortages of healthcare personnel, limited connectivity and geographical barriers can affect access to services.

The organisations said the programme’s combination of connectivity, devices, data and AI-enabled tools is intended to make digital maternal healthcare more accessible to women who might otherwise be excluded by cost or location.

The initiative’s immediate targets are 500,000 women, 5,000 frontline health workers and 500 health facilities by 2030.

MTN and the Gates Foundation said the approximately $25 million initial investment is expected to catalyse additional funding, with the longer-term ambition of developing a scalable approach that could be adapted for other African countries.

The programme therefore places artificial intelligence and digital connectivity alongside antenatal care, emergency obstetric services, health-worker training, facility upgrades and government incentives in Nigeria’s broader effort to reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths.

MTN, Gates Foundation Launch $25m AI Maternal Health Initiative for 500,000 Nigerian Women