Joining forces to make the pregnancy journey in Africa convenient and safe

Women in Sub-Saharan Africa experience a wealth of challenges during pregnancy and these challenges are reflected in the numbers. Maternal mortality is 100x higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in Europe. According to the latest UNICEF data, this has worsened during the pandemic.

Two healthcare companies have decided to join forces to redefine this journey: MumsVillage has built the largest pregnancy community in Kenya; Malaica has built a novel online coaching program for pregnant women.

Co-founder of Malaica is Swiss serial entrepreneur Pascal König. “I co-founded Malaica based on my experience at Ava and my insight that the pregnancy journey around the world is highly inefficient. And in sub-Saharan Africa, it is also associated with huge mortality and morbidity”, explains Pascal König.

Most of the team works out of Kenya, however the company is incorporated in Switzerland where besides the co-founder two other team members as well as most of the investors are based. “We have just closed a pre-seed round, mostly with Swiss business angels. The lead investor and new board member is Markus Gemuend, former CEO of Lonza and former Head of Sub Saharan Africa at Roche”, says Pascal König.

Malaica is building a powerful online program for pregnant women. A dedicated nurse midwife is supporting pregnant women as a coach. She makes sure that Kenyan women get the support they need. The compliance with Kenyan pregnancy guidelines is as important as comprehensive emotional support throughout the emotional journey. The Malaica program is delivered remotely.

Dr. Lorraine Muluka, a Kenyan OB/GYN as well as Co-Founder and CEO of Malaica, says that “the results of the first two cohorts of the program have been impressive. Immediate access to a qualified nurse midwife throughout the pregnancy is a game changer for many Kenyan women. This personal relationship has massively increased compliance with pregnancy guidelines. Furthermore, it opens the possibility to discuss mental health issues, domestic violence and other topics which have often been neglected so far.”

MumsVillage has built the largest pregnancy community in Kenya.More than 100,000 women are passionately contributing to a buzzing community, supporting each other throughout this journey. Thousands of high quality articles and posts have been published. “The majority of young women in Kenya are online now. They are eager to access high quality information and support each other in this emotional, vulnerable phase of their lives,” says Isis Nyong’o, Founder and Chair of MumsVillage. “Malaica’s midwife-led program perfectly fits our objective: making this journey safe and enjoyable for every Kenyan woman.”

The collaboration enables massive scaling

Based on a perfectly aligned mission, MumsVillage and Malaica have decided to join forces, with Isis Nyong’o joining as a Malaica Board member and Co-Founder.

Dr. Lorraine Muluka is excited: “There is so much work to be done to make pregnancy safe and convenient in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our impact and reach can be massively accelerated jointly with MumsVillage. We are looking forward to this next phase. Stay tuned for exciting updates.”

(Press release / SK)