…launches the Mum and Baby mobile app
Seabata Mahao
Giant telecommunications company Vodacom Lesotho has forged working relations with Mondia, a leading mobile commerce company, dedicated to connecting, digitalising and monetising mobile consumers, and launched the Mum and Baby mobile app as an invention to cater for expecting as well as nursing mothers. The app was launched in Maseru this week.
Mum and 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 and Baby’s tailored content, which includes videos, expert articles, and information-sharing SMS messages.
Speaking on the new feature, Vodacom’s Executive Head of Department of Consumer Business and Customer Value Tšepo Thabisi, stated that Mum and Baby is a 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,†Thabisi said.
Furthermore, Mum and 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 and 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 and 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.
Additionally, 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 and Baby service.
On the other hand, Chief Executive Officer of Mondia,Dr Amadeo Rahmannexplained that the value of the partnership is now more critical than ever, with Lesotho’s infant mortality rate, which is one of the highest in the world, having been impaired by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in people avoiding medical services for fear of exposure to the virus.
“The initiatives that put the power of good health directly in people’s hands remain immeasurably important. Mum and Baby provides a free, convenient way of accessing instant, expert advice where it is most needed. Launched in South Africa in 2017, the Mum and Baby service had almost 2 million registered subscribers as of August 2021,†Rahmann added.
Mondia is a leading mobile commerce company, dedicated to connecting, digitalising and monetising mobile consumers. Also Mondia provides access to over 1.5bn consumers through more than 84 mobile operators across 60 countries.
As a global leader, Mondia has deep insight into where the markets are headed and has the expertise to leverage best-in-breed technologies to solve business challenges while enabling the ultimate end user experience.
Continuously driven by innovation, Mondia Labs, Mondia’s innovation hub, is driving entry into new sectors like health and creating disruptive products such as Monsooq.
With offices in 19 locations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Mondia is committed to digitalise the globe through its distinctive technology, strategic partnerships and extensive network and global coverage.
The Lesotho Mum and Baby service can be accessed on the website at https://mumandbaby.vodacom.mobi/ls/mum and on USSD (*230*3#) and is being rolled-out across the country starting this September.