MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Gemalto, GSM Association to Provide Mobile Services to Support “Pan-African Mobile Health Initiative” for Mothers, Children

Gemalto, a publicly traded digital security firm located in the Netherlands, reportedly has announced its support of the Pan-African Mobile Health Initiative (PAMI), which uses mobile phones to address issues in nutrition and maternal and child health in seven African countries. The PAMI initiative is run by the UK-Based GSM Association, a group of 800 mobile operators and 250 other companies worldwide that promotes the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), formerly known as Groupe Special Mobile. Gemalto will be providing digital security services to two of PAMI’s programs: (1) the UN Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy, a movement that has mobilized USD 25 billion as of 2014 as part of an effort to “enhance health financing, strengthen policy, and improve service on the ground for the most vulnerable women and children;” and (2) the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact, which aims to fund improved nutrition for children and pregnant women. Gemalto Software will assist in the collection of data on birth and deaths. Gemalto reports that its aim is to “simplify the relationships between patients and health stakeholders to deliver targeted nutritional and health advice via mobile phones.”

PAMI reports that 15 million women and mothers with infant children under the age of 5 will benefit from the communications services. The initiative is launching its first operations in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia in September 2014, and it plans to extend the initiative to Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania in 2015.

As of December 2013, Gemalto reports total revenues of EUR 2.4 billion (USD 3.2 billion).

By Sarah Luo, Research Associate

About Gemalto

Gemalto is a digital security company that develops software and operating systems such as biometric identification cards that can be used to identify bank customers. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the company has operations in 43 countries. As of December 2013, Gemalto reports total revenues of EUR 2.4 billion (USD 3.2 billion).
Sources and Additional Resources

Gemalto: Gemalto joins GSMA pan-African mHealth Initiative

GSMA: Pan African mHealth Initiative

Gemalto: Gemalto’s Annual Report 2013

MicroCapital, June 11, 2013: Gemalto Provides Biometric Smart Cards for “Prime Cash” Branchless Banking in Bangladesh

MicroCapital, December 10, 2012: Globe Telecom of the Philippines to Expand GCash Mobile Services to Point of Sale (POS)

MicroCapital, June 27, 2007: FINO Adopts Gemalto Smartcards to Accelerate Microbanking Deployment in India

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Gemalto

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