Leading pan-African communications company Vodacom, and Mondia, a private m-commerce company dedicated to connecting, digitalising and monetising mobile consumers, are proud to announce the rollout of the Mum & Baby maternal health service across Lesotho from September 2021
Mum & Baby is a freemium mobile health intervention that provides Vodacom subscribers with maternal, neonatal and child health information designed to encourage good health practices amongst pregnant women, mothers, partners and caregivers. Vodacom collaborated with Mondia to create Mum & Baby’s tailored content, which includes videos, expert articles, and information-sharing SMS messages.
Mum & Baby also provides interactive tools including a due-date calculator, an immunisation calendar, a medication reminder and medicine-safety information. The service, which is available in Lesotho in both English and Sesotho, also includes a rewards component through which subscribers can earn vouchers, music and lullabies.
The Mum & Baby service provides positive socio-economic benefit in the geographies in which it operates. In a KPMG survey conducted in order to understand the impact of the Mum & Baby, service:
- Over 95% of respondents reported that they found the SMS messages received useful or very useful for learning new information about their and their child/children’s health and wellbeing;
- 98% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had taken actions to improve their child’s health as a result of the information provided through the Mum & Baby service; and
- 98% of pregnant women and mothers surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that they had taken actions to improve their own health because of the information provided through the Mum & Baby service.
Ts’epo Thabisi Vodacom’s EHOD: Consumer Business and Customer Value, said, “Mum & Baby is our flagship health and wellness brand focusing on motherhood. We are proud of the way in which it contributes to our vision of building communities, bringing health solutions to more lives and promoting good health outcomes. We have seen this in Lesotho where the indomitable Basotho spirit has come to the fore, as people find creative ways to stay connected, support each other and express themselves. We see our digital services connecting the people of Lesotho to the world wherever they are via Lesotho’s Blanket Network Coverage.”
Dr Amadeo Rahmann, Mondia CEO, explained, “The value of this partnership is now more critical than ever, with Lesotho’s infant mortality rate, which is one of the highest in the world, having been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in people avoiding medical services for fear of exposure to the virus. As a result, initiatives that put the power of good health directly in people’s hands remain immeasurably important. Mum & Baby provides a free, convenient way of accessing instant, expert advice where it is most needed.”
Launched in South Africa in 2017, the Mum & Baby service had almost 2 million registered subscribers as of August 2021.
The Lesotho Mum & Baby service can be accessed at https://mumandbaby.vodacom.mobi/ls/mum and on and on USSD (*230*3#)
