Alain Nteff, a Telecommunications Engineering student and social entrepreneur, has been recognized by Queen Elizabeth under the umbrella of the inaugural Queens Young Leaders Award for his efforts in improving maternal and infant health. Nteff is the Co-founder of GiftedMom, a mobile health technology social enterprise that has impacted over 3,000 pregnant women and mothers in Cameroon.
Nteff met Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at the Buckingham Palace where he announced plans for GiftedMom to impact 5 million pregnant women in Africa by 2018. The startup has already increased the rate of antenatal care attendance and baby vaccination by over 20 percent in Cameroon.
GiftedMom came as a result of a visit Nteff made to his friend who was a student medic in 2012. The high maternal and infant mortality rate at the local hospital deeply moved Nteff. Together with the friend, they thought of creating a mobile solution that would attempt to reduce the unnecessary deaths.
“Sadly, over 7000 women still die per year in Cameroon from pregnancy-related complications which can be prevented by a simple educative SMS. We notify subscribe women by SMS on when they should do their Ante Natal Clinic and tell them why. Subscription to our SMS solution is free,” states GiftedMom website.
In addition to notifying pregnant women, the application also tracks the vaccination program of children, disseminates information on teen health, sex education, family planning and mobilizes community and health workers.
GiftedMom app has been downloaded over 500 times and has a function that helps teenage mothers and health workers calculate due dates.
Nteff has received a number of accolades including WEF Global Shaper and Anzisha Prize winner.
