Telecom
Google Introduces New Tool to Enhance Quick Access to Maternal Care in Nigeria
Google on Tuesday announced a new tool to help in assessing geographic access to emergency obstetric (EmOC) care. This is a broader effort to help decision makers, governments and public health organisations in Nigeria address the gaps in accessing health services where facilities are limited.
The tool uses Google’s internal directions Application Programming Interface (API) to estimate the travel time to the nearest, second nearest and third nearest EmOC facilities across specific regions in the country. It also builds on a dataset Google released in 2021 that revealed the average travel times to COVID-19 vaccination facilities. Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard School for Public Health in Massachusetts used that dataset to help identify “vaccine desserts” and inform vaccination efforts.
Google also collaborated with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to quantify geographic access to parks across nearly 500 metropolitan areas in six countries: Estonia, France, Greece, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States.
According to the WHO, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day; more than 70% of these deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria also contributes the most to global maternal health deaths, based on recent WHO estimates. With the OnTIME Consortium’s contribution of verified emergency obstetric care facilities, the tool by Google shows decision makers how quickly expectant mothers can access emergency obstetric care in Nigeria’s 15 largest cities: Aba, Abuja, Benin City, Ibadan, Ilorin, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Maiduguri, Onitsha, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Uyo, and Warri.
Using the information that will be gathered on the tool, decision makers can expand ambulatory services, make road improvements, add new facilities or upgrade existing ones, and more. “We are excited to collaborate with the OnTIME Consortium, a partnership of policymakers, doctors, and researchers focused on improving care for expecting mothers, to make this tool available to decision makers in Nigeria”, said Olumide Balogun, Google Nigeria, Interim Lead.
Evidence shows that long travel times from home to a health facility significantly impact pregnancy outcomes for mothers and newborns, and timely access to emergency obstetric care (EmOC) can reduce maternal deaths and intrapartum stillbirths by as much as 50% and 75%, respectively. But current approaches to estimating the time it takes expectant mothers to reach EmOC are limited.
“This digital dashboard will be a critical tool in the arsenal of service planners and policymakers looking at optimizing geographical accessibility to critical maternal health services as well as those keen to understand contributions of travel time to poor maternal and perinatal outcomes,” said OnTIME Principal Investigator Dr. Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, a physician, public health practitioner, and Associate Professor of Maternal and Newborn Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“We hope that governments and public health organizations will use this tool to better support the health of their communities, by helping mothers and infants access care more quickly. We’re looking forward to learning from our rollout in Nigeria, and expanding to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the coming months”, Balogun says.
Google has launched its Search Live feature globally to over 200 countries, including Nigeria, where AI Mode is available, enabling voice-and-camera conversations in users’ preferred languages.
Powered by the new multilingual Gemini 3.1 Flash Live model, it delivers natural, real-time interactions via the Google app on Android or iOS—tap the Live icon under the Search bar.
Ideal for hands-free help, users can speak queries for audio replies, follow-ups, or web links. Camera integration adds visual context, like troubleshooting a shelving unit, or pairs with Google Lens for real-world chats.
From the app or Lens, Nigerians can now explore, learn, or solve tasks instantly, boosting everyday productivity worldwide.
Clean and reliable power for telecom networks in Ethiopia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will be expanded following a $45 million investment by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in IPT PowerTech.
The investment targets countries where limited power supply continues to slow digital connectivity and broader economic participation, the institution stated earlier this week.
To enable this expansion, the IFC is providing a $45 million corporate financing package consisting of an A-loan of $27 million and $18 million in blended finance.
The blended portion is sourced from the Canada-IFC Blended Climate Finance Programme and the IDA20 Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility.
The initiative marks the IFC’s first direct infrastructure engagement in Liberia in a decade and in Sierra Leone in six years.
It will help scale solar- and battery-based power systems that reduce reliance on diesel and support greener, more resilient telecom networks.
By improving the quality and stability of power to telecom towers, the initiative will strengthen mobile coverage and ensure that households, schools, health centres, and small businesses can depend on consistent digital services, said the IFC.
The funding supports the modernisation, operation, and maintenance of 2 235 telecom sites across the three nations. More than 90% of these are located in off-grid or weak-grid locations.
With new solar and battery systems powering these sites, mobile networks will experience fewer outages and improved service quality.
Optimising the energy mix is estimated to reduce power costs for operators by up to 30% in Liberia, 26% in Sierra Leone, and 52% in Ethiopia.
This transition is also expected to cut emissions by more than 10 624 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Furthermore, the partnership will promote gender inclusion by expanding opportunities for women in technical, operational, and leadership roles within the sector, says the IFC.
This agreement reflects a shared vision for a greener telecom industry and empowers the company to scale its innovative energy platforms, according to Nabil Haddad, CEO of IPT PowerTech Group.
Reliable and affordable power for telecom networks is a cornerstone of Africa’s digital transformation, said Nathalie Kouassi-Akon, IFC regional director for West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea.
Through this partnership, the institution is supporting a scalable, private sector-led solution that enables mobile operators to reach underserved and fragile communities more sustainably, added Kouassi-Akon.
The project advances the World Bank Group and African Development Bank’s Mission 300 initiative, which aims to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030.
Expedier has unveiled “Expedier for Business,” an online pro-banking platform to simplify global payments, multi-currency transactions, and financial operations for expanding companies.
Kingsley Madu
The tool centralizes payments, invoicing, payroll, and treasury into one secure dashboard, tackling challenges like fragmented systems and poor visibility that hinder international scaling.
Kingsley Madu, Co-Founder and CEO of Expedier, said: “African businesses are increasingly global… Expedier for Business was built to simplify how companies manage money across borders while maintaining visibility, control, and compliance.”
Key features include customizable dashboards for payments, invoices, and workflows; support for USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, and more; virtual cards; automated payroll/invoicing; currency swaps; and real-time tracking.
Security measures cover two-factor authentication, KYC/KYB verification, and team access controls.
As cross-border trade and remote work boom in Africa, the platform aids firms dealing with international suppliers, teams, and customers. It is now available for organizations scaling globally.
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