Home
Donate

Opal Health

Every 7 seconds, a woman or newborn dies from complications that were survivable.
Over 70% of the time, the reason is the same: help came too late.
Opal Health Africa equips Uganda's frontline health workers to run monthly community dialogues using a proven, low-cost approach that has reduced maternal and newborn mortality by up to 49%.
Our program in numbers:
21,000
people reached

870
Direct participants in monthly community dialogues

28
monthly community dialogues
What Opal Health does
We partner with Uganda's Community Health Exension Workers to run monthly sessions where pregnant women and their family members identify what's stopping them from reaching care then solve the barriers together.
The approach is simple: bring communities together, ask the right questions, and let them build their own solutions. This methodology, called Participatory Learning and Action (PLA), has 25+ years of randomized trial evidence and a WHO recommendation behind it.
We provide both direct delivery and technical assistance to District Health Teams to integrate Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) into standard Community Health Worker activities.
Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) for Maternal and Newborn Health

How PLA works: The action cycle
This community-driven approach has a proven track record. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends PLA as a cost-effective way to significantly reduce maternal and neonatal deaths.
Over 25 years of evidence
49% decrease in maternal deaths
33% decrease in neonatal deaths
Our Team
Matt Beer
Co-founder
Startup founder and former Senior Civil Servant. Experience working in and with Governments to develop and implement policy at a national scale.
Melissa Kaminker
Co-founder
Development practitioner with experience bridging last-mile delivery and policy strategy across multiple emerging markets.
With your support, we can do more
It costs just $150 to bring a new community into the program. This cost covers monthly sessions, a trained health worker, and a chance for 25 mothers to change the trajectory of their pregnancies.
Get in touch
If you want to speak to us about what we do, please don't hesitate to get in touch
Opal Health was incubated by Charity Entrepreneurship. Opal Health operates through Anti-Entropy, 501(c)(3) non-profit fiscal sponsor (EIN 88-0967420).