Zambian Healthtech startup Dawa Health Plans Regional Expansion

Zambian Healthtech startup Dawa Health, has announced it is planning expansion across Africa as it aims to empower more rural mothers in Africa through its digital health platform.

Dawa Health was founded in 2018 and operated as a medical hardware startup, providing wearable devices to monitor geriatrics medical parameters to be wirelessly transmitted to doctors for active monitoring.

However, the startup soon developed a digital health platform, DawaMom, to empower mothers to receive remote maternal health while guiding them through the perinatal period.

The DawaMom is an easy-to-use platform that can be accessed via the web, mobile, SMS, and audio or text chatbot.

Co-founder Tafadzwa Munzwa, a medical doctor speaking on the development said that the number of maternal mortality pushed the idea of focusing on maternal health.

“Coincidentally, my cousin was pregnant, and her experience and the unacceptably high numbers of maternal mortality in the region were the final push to pivot and focus on maternal health”.

“Through our platform, mothers monitor parameters like gestational blood pressure, gestational blood sugar, urinary tract infections, hemoglobin levels, and ultrasound scans. Our platform works together with a network of community health agents who provide biweekly maternal health support in remote areas. The medical parameters from community health agents are then wired to trained professionals who provide remote insights,” Munzwa said.

Dawa Health is bootstrapped and makes money directly from patients on the platform and international organizations subsidizing costs for low-income communities

Dawa Health is currently focused on the Zambian markets with expansion plans to Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Tanzania.