Innovation

HelpMum Africa,  introduced the Clean Birth Kit to reduce preventable maternal deaths, especially in rural areas where hospitals and sterile delivery tools are often out of reach. In many communities, women still give birth without proper hygiene or medical support, leading to infections and complications. The kit provides all basic delivery essentials — including gloves, soap, blades, and cord clamps — in one affordable package that costs around $6, ensuring safe and clean births even in low-resource settings.

Launched in 2017, the Clean Birth Kit is distributed through traditional birth attendants, local health centers, and partners such as Rotary International and ACT Foundation. This network helps the kits reach remote villages while creating small income opportunities for women who serve as distributors and health educators. The initiative combines healthcare access with community empowerment, making it both sustainable and impactful.

The project supports several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — most notably SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by reducing infection-related maternal deaths by up to 30%, and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic in Growth) by empowering women and promoting local entrepreneurship. Through this simple but life-saving idea, HelpMum Africa is changing the way communities approach childbirth and improving the chances of survival for both mothers and newborns.

Inspiration

HelpMum’s journey started from the pure passion and desire of a single man to make a difference. A popular quote says, “You have to experience it to believe it”, Dr. Abiodun Adereni, the founder of HelpMum Africa, a social entrepreneur, experienced firsthand how lack of access to health care, inadequacy of trained personnel, poverty and misinformation led to avoidable deaths of mothers and babies in rural communities.

“I lost a sister to a vaccine preventable diseases and also an aunt during childbirth”, said Ms Oluwaseun Odunsi, Head of monitoring, evaluation and research, HelpMum Africa, whom we interviewed. These experiences revealed deep rooted challenges in the Nigeria’s health care system.

She explained further, Dr. Abiodun Adereni became inspired to make a change during his medical outreach in southwestern Nigeria where he realized that many expectant mothers could not afford basic birthing kits or access pre-natal education. This inspired him to leverage technology and local distribution networks as well as community empowerment to tackle this menace. As Dr. Adereni often says: “No mother should die while giving life simply because she lives far from a hospital or cannot afford basic care”.

"Be the change you want to see", they say. To solve these problems, Dr. Adereni’s team designed affordable clean birth kits for pregnant women combined with technology-driven tools that improve access to maternal health information, streamline vaccine distribution, and strengthen support for mothers, caregivers, and frontline health workers. For these innovations HelpMum Africa has received several awards and recognitions including grants from the Africa visionary fund Cohort 4, funding from UK Foreign Department of Commonwealth Office, VaxSocial initiative awards, Meta AI innovation grant award among others.

Overall impact

HelpMum’s core innovation is the distribution of affordable, sterilized "Clean Birth Kits" to pregnant women across Nigeria, particularly in remote and underserved rural communities. The "who" is every vulnerable mother who faces the danger of giving birth without access to a clinic or a trained midwife. 

In order to achieve this, the innovative solution provided by HelpMum Africa is a simple, life-saving kit containing a sterile blade to cut the umbilical cord, a clean clamp to tie it, a bar of soap, sterile gloves, and a plastic sheet. This "how" directly prevents infections—a leading cause of maternal and newborn death—by replacing unsterile traditional tools like rusty razors or dirty cloths with a single, safe package. The "when" and "where" is at the most critical moment: during childbirth, right in a woman’s own community, ensuring safety even when a hospital is miles away.

In the short term, the impact is immediate and visceral. From the very first use, a birth kit ensures a cleaner, safer delivery. Evidence of this success is found in the stories from the field: fewer cases of cord infection in newborns and a significant drop in postpartum infections in mothers. HelpMum tracks these outcomes through health worker reports and government health center data, which show a marked improvement in health indicators in communities where the kits are distributed.

The long-term effect is a fundamental break in the cycle of tragedy. By safely welcoming new lives, these kits help prevent the profound grief and economic hardship that a mother’s or infant’s death brings to a family. Evidence for this sustained impact is seen in the growing trust and demand for the kits, demonstrated by HelpMum’s partnership with the Nigerian government to scale up distribution. This partnership, backed by data showing improved maternal and infant survival rates in their operating areas, proves that this simple innovation is not just saving lives at birth but is fostering healthier, more resilient communities for generations to come.

Business benefit

Although a social enterprise, Helpmum Africa has been able to combine impact with sustainability. Its revenue model involves the sales of affordable birth kits and partnerships with international collaborators and governmental agencies which ensures financial viability and scalability. The company's radical innovation, The birth kits are sold for $6 per unit and can be purchased directly by their key customers (low income pregnant women) or by partner maternal and child health organizations (Rotary International (Lagos State Chapter), ACT Foundation, Traditional Birth Attendants) who then freely redistribute or resell the product at subsidized rate.

While responding to the interview question on business impact, Ms. Oluwaseun Odunsi said, "We generate revenue through the sales of clean birth kit to mothers at affordable rate making sure they have access to quality and affordable health care". Through the E-learning platforms, Helpmum Africa opened up employment opportunities for women as distributors, Health educators and digital health workers which on the long run reduce unemployment, improve women empowerment and contributes to economic growth.

To ensure scalability, Helpmum Africa relies on network of traditional birth attendants to sell the birth kits on commission in the states where it does not have a physical presence. Also, HelpMum Africa has been able to demonstrate that the business model can be replicated on a larger scale in other countries as it has extended its reach to neighbouring African countries where maternal and infant mortality is Also a menace. Conclusively, HelpMum Africa has shown that it is quite possible for a company to be socially responsible while maintaining profitability.

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Social and environmental benefit

The HelpMum Clean Birth Kit helps to  make childbirth safe for mothers and babies in rural Nigeria. Many women there give birth without clean tools or trained health workers, which often leads to infection or death. The kit contains simple items such as sterile gloves, a razor blade, a cord clamp, soap, and a clean sheet. Each kit costs only about six dollars, making it affordable for low-income families. This innovation benefits society by reducing infection-related deaths among mothers and newborns. It has helped cut maternal deaths in partner communities by up to 30 percent. The kit supports UN SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by promoting safe, hygienic births and ensuring no woman dies while giving life.

It also creates tangible benefits with ripple effects for society and planet. HelpMum trains and employs local women as distributors and health educators, giving them income and new skills. The kits are made and packed locally, supporting sustainable production and reducing waste. In short, the Clean Birth Kit is a simple but life-saving innovation that protects mothers, strengthens communities, and promotes a healthier and more equal society (SDG 10).

Interview

Ms. Odunsi Oluwaseun Oluwatoyin, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Research

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