What began as an unintended communication channel has transformed into a critical digital lifeline for thousands of expectant mothers throughout Kenya. When healthcare providers originally launched an automated text messaging tool to send standard appointment reminders to clinic patients, they did not anticipate that recipients would treat the automated alerts as an open door for two-way medical dialogue.
Almost immediately after the reminder texts were dispatched, pregnant women began texting back with a wide variety of pressing questions. Their inquiries ranged from everyday nutritional guidance, such as whether it is safe to eat avocados during pregnancy, to potentially serious physical symptoms, including severe headaches and sudden bodily swelling.
In its earliest stages, the communication volume was modest. Jay Patel, the director of technology at Jacaranda Health, noted that when he first joined the organization, the system received fewer than 100 questions each day. However, as word spread and patient engagement surged, the daily influx of incoming inquiries expanded rapidly, eventually reaching a massive volume of approximately 15,000 questions per day.
To manage the initial influx of messages, Jacaranda Health initially employed dedicated nurses whose sole responsibility was to review and manually answer each text individually. While this human-led approach provided valuable guidance, the rapidly escalating volume of messages quickly highlighted the need for a far more scalable and sustainable solution to maintain responsive care.
Beginning in 2020, software developers began designing and refining a specialized artificial intelligence platform capable of understanding natural language inquiries from patients. Known as PROMPTS, the resulting system was engineered to process messages, categorize their content, prioritize urgency, and instantly identify situations where an expectant mother might require immediate clinical intervention.
Today, the PROMPTS service operates across public healthcare facilities in 24 Kenyan counties, offering widespread support to women navigating the complexities of prenatal and postnatal health. The platform is designed to function entirely over standard SMS, ensuring that patients do not need expensive smartphones, high-speed internet connections, or strong mobile data reception to access essential guidance.
For countless women living in remote or under-resourced communities, access to an online search engine is simply not an option. In these settings, a simple text message sent to the automated platform represents the fastest and most dependable method for obtaining accurate healthcare information and determining whether an issue warrants a difficult journey to a medical center.
Patel highlighted the severe challenges faced by rural mothers, pointing out that if a woman experiences sudden bleeding in the middle of the night, she lacks the ability to look up symptoms on the web. Because the PROMPTS system is completely free of charge to users and compatible with basic feature phones, it bridges an otherwise insurmountable digital and geographical divide.
While the AI platform effectively handles routine queries and informational requests, it is programmed with strict safety guardrails. Approximately 7% of all incoming text messages are flagged by the system as potentially dangerous or urgent medical situations that require immediate clinical evaluation.
Whenever an inquiry is categorized as urgent, the platform automatically bypasses all automated AI conversational responses. Instead, the message is instantly routed to a dedicated emergency help desk queue, ensuring that human healthcare professionals can take over without delay.
Once a high-risk text enters this specialized queue, an on-duty nurse can immediately pick up the case. The nurse reviews the patient’s complete messaging history to assess the context of the emergency and then places a direct telephone call to the mother to provide clinical guidance or coordinate urgent care.
This rapid-response capability is especially vital within Kenya, where maternal mortality remains a formidable public health issue. Approximately 6,000 women in the country lose their lives each year due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, underscoring the critical need for timely intervention.
By offering immediate triage and expert triage-routing, the platform helps families make life-or-death decisions in real time. Expectant mothers can quickly learn whether their symptoms represent normal physiological changes or dangerous warning signs that necessitate an immediate, late-night trip to a regional hospital.
Through the integration of basic SMS technology and sophisticated artificial intelligence triage, the PROMPTS initiative continues to demonstrate how accessible digital tools can strengthen public healthcare systems. By ensuring that no symptom goes unaddressed, the platform provides continuous support for thousands of mothers across Kenya.
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