Maa App

AI-powered maternal & pediatric companion offering health tracking, courses, multi-language RAG chatbot, and AI video chat—empowering African mothers with trusted guidance and support.

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Inspiration

Many African mothers face barriers to reliable maternal and pediatric care from limited local resources to language and cultural gaps. Maa was inspired by our personal experience; navigating pregnancy as a healthcare worker and still feeling lost, unheard, and unsupported. We envisioned Maa App as an accessible, AI-driven companion that bridges these gaps and empowers mothers with personalized, trustworthy support.

What it does

Maa App is a mobile-first app that offers health tracking for prenatal, postpartum, and pediatric milestones; on‐demand courses; a Langchain and Gradio retrieval‐augmented chatbot trained on data in the African context, in English, French, Twi, Yoruba, Swahili, and Hausa; and AI video chat with Tavus for real‐time guidance—all in one seamless mobile interface. The detailed features are:

  • 24/7 AI Chatbot Support: Instantly answers maternal and pediatric health questions in local languages and relatable terms.
  • Medication & Appointment Reminders: Never miss a dose or a checkup again.
  • Mental Health Support: Safe space for emotional care, especially for postpartum challenges.
  • Breastfeeding & Symptom Tracker: Log key milestones and health changes for baby and mom.
  • Community & Peer Support: Connect with other mothers, ask questions, and share experiences.
  • Educational Courses: Learn about pregnancy, newborn care, nutrition, and more — at your own pace.

How we built it

We built Maa on Bolt.new, OpenAI embeddings and FAISS for our RAG system, and integrated WHO and Africa CDC guidelines as our knowledge base. Our video chat leverages Tavus AI avatar layer for natural, live consultations.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating RAG AI chat via Gradio API was a challenge and we ended up embedding the Huggingface Spaces page in the chat view. Integrating real‐time video chat with AI responses under strict latency constraints tested both our frontend and backend.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We launched a fully functional prototype supporting six languages, combined structured health tracking with conversational AI, and delivered seamless AI video chat. Our RAG chatbot returns contextually accurate, guideline‐aligned answers in under 2 seconds. Other accomplishments are:

  • Over 400+ users on our waitlist within weeks of pre-launch.
  • Featured on Tech Voice Africa and multiple media platforms for innovation in maternal health.
  • Broadcast on national radio to raise awareness around maternal care gaps.
  • Launched a YouTube series to spark open conversations about motherhood in Africa.
  • Produced branded merchandise and content that’s engaging communities both online and offline.
  • 30,000+ social media engagements, sparking real conversations around motherhood and care.

What we learned

We deepened our expertise in building RAG pipelines, handling multilingual corpora, and scaling live video AI interactions. We also gained insights into mothers’ real needs through early user testing, which refined our UX and content prioritization.

What's next for Maa App

As we prepare to launch, our vision for Maa goes beyond just an app, we’re building a comprehensive, culturally grounded ecosystem for maternal and pediatric care across Africa. Here’s what’s coming next:

  • Official App Launch: Bringing Maa to our first wave of users in Ghana, Nigeria, and other African countries.
  • Teleconsultation (Video & Audio): Enabling direct access to certified doctors, midwives, and psychologists for real-time care.
  • AR Fetal Development: Offering immersive, shareable week-by-week tracking of baby’s growth using augmented reality.
  • Mental Health Support: Partnering with licensed psychologists to provide culturally sensitive emotional care and postpartum counseling.

  • Personal Health Journal: Capture and save your entire pregnancy journey — symptoms, scans, notes in a story you can one day share.

  • In-App Marketplace: Launching a trusted hub for locally available maternal and child health essentials.

  • Language & Cultural Expansion: Adding more African languages and tailoring content to reflect local practices and beliefs.

  • Clinical Validation & Partnerships: Working with hospitals, NGOs, and health ministries to ensure quality and scale.

  • Data-Driven Insights: Using anonymized data to inform public health interventions and drive maternal health policy.

Challenge Prizes

  • Tavus We are entering the challenge prize for Tavus. We used Tavus to create a replica of one of us, made a persona out of it, and used it as our intelligent maternal and pediatric AI health assistant that is available to African mothers 24/7 to answer any questions they may have. We also used our Tavus AI replica to create the intro video of one of our maternal health video courses.

  • Custom Domain Name www.themaaapp.com

Top Build-inPublic-Journey

Instagram: themaaapp https://www.instagram.com/themaaapp?igsh=MXhzcnh0NmxvbHlzNA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr\

Twitter/X: themaaapp https://x.com/themaaapp?s=11

LinkedIn: The Maa App https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-maa-app/

Youtube: The Maa App https://youtube.com/@themaaapp?si=NIlr4IlmgFFay-_J

Facebook: themaaapp https://www.facebook.com/share/1Fo85nbG8d/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Tiktok: maa_is_here https://www.tiktok.com/@maa_is_here?_t=ZM-8xe6kIVuZ9E&_r=1

Bonus Prize for Inspirational Story

On April 27, 2017, in my final year of pharmacy school, I was declared dead—after months of excruciating migraines, blackouts, and collapse, I lay in a hospital bed, humiliated as my classmates in lab coats took notes on my failing body as if I were a case study. When I stopped breathing, my head burning like fire, I slipped into silence, only to be jolted back to life by the sobs of my father, sister, and best friend at my bedside—told I was gone, I had survived against all odds. A week before finals I lost my sight, two days later my hearing, yet I refused to surrender: I sat my exams, walked the graduation stage, and became a pharmacist through sheer determination. Years later, pregnant and trained in medicine yet left feeling lost—unheard when I asked questions, shamed for what I didn’t know, unsure when to take my antimalarial—I realized that if I struggled, what must everyday women face? Then I lost a dear friend to a preventable miscarriage brought on by negligence and indifference, and my co-founder, Aseda, faced the same tragedy; in their deaths we saw a silent crisis. So we built Maa: not just an app, but the caring, listening companion we wish had existed—born from grief and built with love to ensure that no woman walks this road alone, that no family mourns unanswered questions, and that healthcare becomes human, kind, and life-saving.

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