Privacy Policy

Mama+Care (“Mama+Care”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) is a digital maternal and child health support platform designed to improve maternal and child health outcomes through educational content, reminders, and accessible digital tools for caregivers.

We recognise that health-related, maternal, and child-related information is highly sensitive. We are committed to protecting user privacy through responsible, ethical, and transparent data practices aligned with international standards for digital health and public health innovation.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect information when you access or use the Mama+Care mobile application and related services (the “Platform”).

Mama+Care is developed as a social impact health innovation with the objective of supporting maternal and child health outcomes, particularly in underserved and rural communities.

We are guided by the following principles:

• Ethical use of health-related data
• Privacy by design and default
• Data minimisation and responsible innovation
• Transparency and accountability
• Protection of vulnerable populations, including pregnant women and caregivers

This Privacy Policy applies to all users of the Mama+Care Platform, including mobile application users and any related digital services.

By accessing or using Mama+Care, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Mama+Care is designed to avoid unnecessary collection of direct personal identifiers such as national identification numbers, physical addresses, or financial information.

We collect the following categories of information:

4.1 Functional Health and Care Inputs

• Pregnancy stage or trimester
• Infant age or date of birth (if provided)
• Child health milestones and caregiver inputs
• Optional self-reported wellness tracking data

4.2 Platform Usage Data

• Features accessed within the Platform
• Frequency and duration of use
• Interaction with educational content, reminders, and tools

4.3 Technical and Device Information

• Device type, model, and operating system
• Application version
• Diagnostic logs and crash reports
• Performance and stability metrics

Certain information collected through the Platform constitutes health-related contextual data, including pregnancy stage and child development indicators.

While this data is not intended to directly identify individuals, it is treated as sensitive in nature and is subject to enhanced safeguards consistent with international best practice in digital health systems.

Mama+Care processes data strictly for the following purposes:

• Delivery of personalised maternal and child health education
• Provision of timely reminders for antenatal care, immunisation, and child development milestones
• Improvement of Platform functionality, reliability, and user experience
• Monitoring system performance and preventing technical failures
• Generation of anonymised and aggregated insights to support public health and research initiatives

As part of its social impact mandate, Mama+Care may generate fully anonymised and aggregated insights to support:

• Maternal and child health planning
• Public health programming
• Academic research and evaluation
• Health systems strengthening initiatives

These insights may be shared with:

• Ministry of Health and Social Services (Namibia)
• Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)
• Accredited academic and research institutions
• Recognised global health and development partners

Important: All shared datasets are aggregated and anonymised and do not identify individual users.

Mama+Care does not sell personal data.

Data may be shared only under the following conditions:

• With trusted technical service providers (e.g., hosting, analytics, infrastructure providers) operating under strict confidentiality and data processing agreements
• Where required by applicable law or lawful request by competent authorities
• In anonymised and aggregated form for public health, research, or statistical purposes

Third-party service providers are contractually bound to process data solely on behalf of Mama+Care and are prohibited from using it for independent purposes.

Mama+Care may rely on third-party service providers for:

• Cloud infrastructure and data hosting
• Analytics and system performance monitoring
• Messaging, notification, and communication services

All third-party providers are selected based on their security practices and are required to comply with appropriate data protection and confidentiality standards.

Mama+Care implements technical and organisational safeguards to protect user data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, or disclosure.

10.1 Technical Safeguards

• Secure cloud-based infrastructure
• Encryption of data in transit (TLS 1.2 or higher)
• Controlled and restricted database access
• Continuous system monitoring and logging
• Regular updates and security patch management

10.2 Organisational Safeguards

• Role-based access control
• Limited access to authorised personnel only
• Confidentiality obligations for all developers and administrators
• Principle of least privilege applied to all systems

10.3 User-Level Security Features

• Optional PIN or authentication controls (where enabled)
• Device-based biometric authentication support (where available)
• Automatic session timeout for inactivity

10.4 Security Disclaimer

While Mama+Care applies reasonable and industry-aligned safeguards, no digital system can guarantee absolute security.

Mama+Care applies a structured data lifecycle approach:

• Data is retained only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Policy
• Data that is no longer required is securely deleted or irreversibly anonymised
• Aggregated and anonymised datasets may be retained for research and statistical purposes
• Periodic reviews are conducted to assess continued necessity of stored data

Users have control over their engagement with the Platform and may:

• Discontinue use of the Platform at any time
• Request deletion of associated data where technically feasible
• Remove locally stored data by uninstalling the application or clearing device storage

Where applicable, reasonable efforts will be made to honour user data deletion requests in accordance with technical and legal constraints.

In the event of a data security incident, Mama+Care will take appropriate steps to:

• Identify and assess the nature and scope of the incident
• Contain and mitigate potential risks
• Implement corrective and preventive measures
• Notify affected users and/or relevant authorities where legally required

The Mama+Care Platform is intended for adult users, particularly caregivers and mothers.

We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children. If such data is identified, it will be deleted within a reasonable timeframe.

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in functionality, legal requirements, or operational practices.

Continued use of the Platform after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

For questions, concerns, or data-related requests:

Mama+Care Team
Email: info@mamacarehealth.org

Mama+Care is committed to advancing maternal and child health outcomes through ethical, inclusive, and responsible digital innovation. We work toward improving access to health information and supporting caregivers through technology designed for real-world impact.