The Problem

Two in five women in Nigeria experience mental health problems during the perinatal period — the months surrounding pregnancy and birth. Anxiety, depression, stress, and psychosis during this time carry serious consequences: for the mother, for the child, and for the family. These are not rare or edge-case conditions. They are among the most common health challenges women face during one of the most medically attended periods of their lives.

And yet maternal mental health receives less than one percent of all maternal, newborn, and child health spending in Nigeria. Only one in ten maternal health programmes has a defined mental health component. Up to 80 percent of affected women access no care at all. The gap between need and response is not a knowledge problem — the evidence on prevalence and impact is clear. It is a systems and delivery problem. Maternal mental health has not been integrated into the routine care structures that already reach millions of women every year.

We believe technology can change this. Antenatal clinics, postnatal visits, and community health programmes already connect with pregnant women and nursing mothers across Nigeria. The infrastructure exists. What is missing is the technology-enabled tooling to make maternal mental health screening, support, training, and referral a routine part of that existing contact — without requiring specialist resources that most facilities do not have.

Our Response

SEREN is a programme Gawani is developing to generate credible evidence on how specific technology innovations can integrate maternal mental health care into routine maternal, newborn, and child health services in Nigeria. We have completed the conceptual and design work to define the programme’s approach. We are now seeking a founding partner to take it into implementation.

The programme is designed to work across four interconnected areas of the care pathway:

• Screening and early detection: Technology-enabled tools that allow nurses and midwives to identify mental health conditions during routine MNCH care visits
• Training and supervision: Digital training solutions that equip health workers to provide basic MMH support without requiring specialist referral
• Treatment and support: Technology-enabled access to care for women experiencing mild mental health symptoms within the primary care setting
• Referral pathways: Digital systems to identify women with moderate-to-severe symptoms and connect them to appropriate specialist care

Implementation Research Roadmap

Phase 1: Diagnostics (Months 1-3)

Scoping study and structured evaluation of specific technology innovations on their potential to expand MMH screening, training, care, and referrals within MNCH settings.

Phase 2: Design (Months 4-6)

Development of a pilot programme for testing selected high-potential innovations in public health care facilities and off-facility MNCH interventions.

Phase 3: Implementation Research (Months 7-15)

Pilot testing and rigorous evaluation of selected innovations to generate evidence on viability, feasibility, and readiness for national scale-up.

What Success Would Look Like

The immediate goal is evidence — credible, actionable data on which technology innovations work, in which contexts, and at what cost. That evidence becomes the foundation for the larger ambition: integration of maternal mental health into Nigeria’s routine MNCH care system at national scale. If validated innovations are adopted system-wide, the potential reach is significant:

What a Founding Partnership Would Enable

A founding funder or co-design partner would enable Gawani to move SEREN from concept into action, funding:

• A comprehensive landscape of existing technology innovations relevant to MMH integration in Nigeria’s primary care context
• A detailed pilot programme design including site selection, technology selection, and clinical partnership development
• Pilot testing in at least two public health facilities and one off-facility MNCH programme intervention
• A comprehensive evidence report and policy paper with findings, lessons, and recommendations for national scale-up

What We Are Looking For

At this stage, our primary need is a founding funder who understands the problem and is willing to invest in the evidence-generation work that makes everything else possible. We are also beginning early conversations with potential clinical and technical partners.