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Partnering Gemalto, Hello Doctor, Lifesaver, Mobenzi, Mobilium, MTN, Omega Diagnostics and Samsung, GSMA has launched a new cross-ecosystem partnership designed to provide a range of mHealth services to women and children, with a particular focus on nutrition, across Sub-Saharan Africa.
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The program will be launched initially in seven countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia – from September 2014. And the phase two, which commences in 2015, will incorporate additional partners and services and will address four more countries: Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
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Consumers will be offered discounted Samsung handsets and tablets with pre-embeded app, Smart Health. The initiative which is targeted to address market of 15.5 million pregnant women and mothers with children under five years of age, leverages on MTN SIMs to allow free access to health content, health registration and data collection via the Smart Health application.
"This new mobile ecosystem partnership, developed by the GSMA, is committed to connecting the mobile and health industries to develop commercially sustainable mHealth services that meet public health needs. The companies in this partnership are working to deliver the objectives of the United Nations Every Women Every Child Global Strategy, as well as the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact, in the areas of nutrition and maternal and child health. We call on mobile ecosystem players, health providers, governments, NGOs, civil society and others to work with us to launch life-saving mobile health services.”
- Tom Phillips, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA
"This partnership heralds a new era in the delivery of health care in Sub-Saharan Africa, where currently access to even the most basic of health services remains the worst in the world. MTN is therefore proud to be part of this collaborative effort, which will deliver solutions that harnesses the expertise of some of the leading companies in the world, to improve access to health care for many of our customers across the seven launch countries.”
- Pieter Verkade, Chief Commercial Officer, MTN Group
