Mother Baby Wellness
Frontline coaches support families through two proven programs: breastfeeding support, and maternal mental health care using the WHO’s Problem Management Plus approach. Six structured home visits per family, paid on verified outcomes.
What is involved in Mother Baby Wellness?
Six structured home visits across two components. Each visit is delivered by a trained Frontline Worker, confirmed on the Connect platform, and paid only when verified.
Breastfeeding Preparation
Counseling before birth on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, what to expect in the first days, and how to prepare for early latch. Frontline Workers address misconceptions and build household support before the baby arrives.
Early Breastfeeding Establishment
Workers observe a breastfeed, assess latch and positioning, and address the most common barriers to exclusive breastfeeding in the first weeks: pain, perceived low supply, and family pressure to supplement. Evidence suggests programs like this can increase exclusive breastfeeding rates by up to 48%.
Sustained Feeding and Complementary Transition
Support to maintain exclusive breastfeeding through six months, followed by counseling on the safe introduction of complementary foods. Workers reinforce feeding cues, responsive feeding, and appropriate meal frequency and diversity.
Problem Management Plus Coaching
WHO’s Problem Management Plus (PM+) is a 5-session brief psychological intervention, transdiagnostic, meaning no formal diagnosis is required. It targets depression, anxiety, and stress using strategies including problem management, behavioral activation, social support strengthening, and psychoeducation. Designed specifically for delivery by trained non-professional community health volunteers, it has been validated in Randomized Controlled Trials including with women affected by gender-based violence in Kenya.
Resilience and Emotional Support
Structured check-ins on maternal wellbeing, practical problem-solving techniques, and stress management strategies, each session using motivational interviewing and relapse prevention to build lasting change. Workers are trained to identify postpartum depression symptoms and refer when clinical support is needed, with referral pathways pre-established before first delivery.
AI Chatbot Reinforcement
Between visits, Frontline Workers access an AI chatbot for content reinforcement, troubleshooting, and post-session debriefs using motivational interviewing. The system also identifies workers lacking content mastery and flags them for supervisor follow-up. A potential client-facing layer for direct breastfeeding guidance is in design.
Mother Baby Wellness
Piloting 2026
GiveWell awarded $320,356 in November 2024 to design and test the Mother Baby Wellness program on Connect. A 15-month design-and-pilot phase is underway, targeting approximately 2,000 mother-baby pairs across Nigeria. Data and results will be published as the pilot completes.
See the Grant →Nearly half of all under-five deaths happen in the first month.
Neonatal mortality is declining more slowly than post-neonatal mortality. The window immediately after birth, when most families have returned home but before postnatal clinic follow-up begins, is the single most under-supported period in the maternal and child health continuum.
The evidence for the two interventions is strong: structured breastfeeding promotion programs can increase exclusive breastfeeding rates by up to 48%. Problem Management Plus (PM+) is a WHO-endorsed brief psychological intervention shown to reduce depression and improve wellbeing in low-resource settings. Neither has been consistently delivered at scale through verified, performance-paid Frontline Workers. That is the gap MBW is designed to close.
Interested in postnatal care at scale?
We’re actively designing the Mother Baby Wellness program. If you’re interested in co-designing, funding, or piloting, reach out. We’d like to build it with you.
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