Mentor Mother Model
The magic of our model is that it is peer-based and local: integrated services are delivered by people from the same community as those they serve—meaning they are rooted in shared realities and experiences.
mothers2mothers (m2m) employs and trains local women living with HIV as community health workers (CHWs) called Mentor Mothers who work alongside doctors and nurses in facilities and communities as professionalised members of the health care system. They provide women, adolescents, and children—our three core client groups—with integrated primary health care services, focusing on early detection, referrals, and education and support that ensures our clients stay in care for the long term.
Mentor Mothers are a vital link between health centres and their surrounding communities, connecting, and keeping, people in care. Working hand in hand with doctors, nurses, and Mentor Mothers at health centres, Community Mentor Mothers go door-to-door in the catchment areas served by the nearest health centre to deliver services, as well as educate, engage, and follow up with clients who have not received medical care or who have stopped treatment. Mentor Mothers based at nearby health centres can then support clients to access the services they need. Digital tools strengthen the community and health centre connection, ensuring accurate tracking, follow–up, and reporting.
Services for our Core Client Groups:
m2m unlocks the potential of women to create healthy families. We train and employ local women living with HIV as Mentor Mothers—community health workers to educate and support women and their families to access integrated primary healthcare services, start any treatment they need, and stay in care.
Services include:
HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment
Mentor Mothers offer support, education, and services to prevent new HIV infections, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). We also serve women living with HIV, especially those who are pregnant and breastfeeding, and offer nutrition, sexual and reproductive health education, and family planning support. A key focus is ensuring clients start and stay on treatment for life. This includes offering HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B testing for the women we support, their babies, and partners.
Reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH)
m2m provides services and referrals to women living with HIV and women who are HIV-free to ensure a healthy pregnancy, safe childbirth, and appropriate postnatal care. We also educate, support, and refer all of the women we serve to access essential health services, including sexual and reproductive health, and family planning.
Household Economic Strengthening
m2m is improving the financial well-being and food security of women and families by providing services to strengthen financial literacy and create opportunities for income-generating activities, including Village Savings and Loans Associations. In addition, m2m employs and pays women living with HIV as Peer Mentors, which has a direct economic impact on communities.
Tuberculosis (TB)
Mentor Mothers educate clients about the symptoms and risks of TB, especially for those living with HIV. They refer clients with symptoms for testing, and support those who test positive to follow and adhere to treatment.
Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
Mentor Mothers educate and screen women and their families for NCDs such as hypertension, diabetes, and cervical cancer—referring them to health centres for clinical treatment, as needed. They also provide home-based support and measurement of key indicators such as blood pressure and blood sugar readings.
Malaria
m2m educates women and families about how to protect and prevent themselves from contracting malaria, and referring those with symptoms for further treatment and care.
Our Impact
0.23%
of m2m clients who were HIV-negative when enrolled in our programme contracted HIV in 2023—the fourth consecutive year that we achieved a decline and 15 times lower than the global benchmark of 3.6. [1]
100%
of clients we referred for tuberculosis (TB) testing in 2023 received a test, and all those who tested positive for TB were successfully linked to treatment.
93%
of our clients used modern family planning methods, compared to a benchmark of 56% in sub-Saharan Africa. [2] This helps to improve maternal and child health outcomes, advance gender equity, and reduce poverty.
With adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa now three times as likely to acquire HIV as their male peers, it’s clear that adolescent girls and young women are disproportionately bearing the brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. m2m fosters the health and well-being of adolescent girls and boys, and young men and women, with a focus on preventing HIV infections and related illnesses.
Services include:
HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment
m2m Peer Mentors offer support, education, and services to their peers to increase awareness, ensure access to health services, and reduce HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women. They also support pregnant and postnatal adolescent girls and young women who are living with HIV to enjoy a healthy pregnancy and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services
Through proven peer-led, age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health education and services, m2m Peer Mentors promote HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B testing and support adolescents and young adults to prevent new infections and avoid unplanned pregnancies. We also provide cervical cancer screening and referral services.
Tuberculosis (TB)
m2m Mentor Mothers educate clients about the symptoms and risks of TB, especially for those living with HIV. They refer clients with symptoms for testing, and support those who test positive to follow and adhere to treatment.
Orphans and Vulnerable Children and Adolescents (OVCA)
m2m’s presence in communities, means that we are able to identify vulnerable and at-risk adolescents—including those in household leadership positions—and support those young people to access any health care and social services they need. This includes providing HIV education, screenings for disease and violence, monitoring school attendance, supporting households to become stronger economically, and capacitating families and the broader communities to care for these young people.
Our Impact
86%
of m2m adolescent clients (ages 10-19) accessed condoms in 2023, well above the 32% benchmark for sub-Saharan Africa. [1] This is crucial for preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies.
59%
of m2m adolescent clients screened for STIs in 2023, up significantly from 11% in 2022, and well above the 20% regional benchmark.[2]
33%
of m2m adolescent clients accessed pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2023, a significant increase from 16% in 2022, which is significantly higher than the regional benchmark of 2% for sub-Saharan Africa.[3]
m2m is committed to ensuring that every child thrives, not just survives, by integrating services to protect and improve the health and development of infants and children, age 0-9, into our core programme.
Services include:
Paediatric HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment
m2m is dedicated to preventing the transmission of HIV between mother and child, and has achieved virtually elimination for enrolled clients for eight consecutive years. In addition, m2m is tackling unacceptably low rates of testing and treatment among HIV-exposed children. We work in health centres and communities to identify all at risk children, and provide support and HIV testing services to them and their families. We ensure they are linked, initiated, and retained in care if they test positive.
Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (RMNCH)
m2m leverages our strong relationships with families to improve children’s health, becoming a trusted advisor and linking families to health centres for services to prevent and treat childhood illnesses. This includes providing nutrition education and offering locally-relevant advice, screening for malnutrition and making referrals as needed, providing information on water, hygiene and sanitation, and also delivering programmes to enhance access to immunisations.
Early Childhood Development (ECD)
Mentor Mothers help to promote an environment of nurturing care and active development for young children by providing advice and support to their parents and caregivers on early learning stimulation, responsive and playful parenting, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene and safety. They also identify young children with disabilities and advocate for their care.
Orphans and other Vulnerable Children (OVC)
m2m Case Coordinators provide dedicated OVC services, including early identification and comprehensive HIV care, treatment, and support. Case Coordinators work to keep OVCs safe by strengthening the provision of and linkage to child protection services that prevent or address sexual and gender-based violence, and increase school enrolment, attention and completion through linkage to early childhood development support and school support interventions. m2m also works to strengthen the stability of the household, by building family support, household economic security, and providing linkages to social protection.
Malaria
m2m is seeking to address the unacceptably high number of malaria deaths among children by educating families about how to protect and prevent their children from contracting malaria, and referring children with symptoms for further treatment and care.
Our Impact
0.0%
– the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV among m2m enrolled clients in 2023. This is the tenth consecutive year that m2m’s transmission rate has been below the benchmark of 5% that the UN defines as “virtual elimination.”
99%
of children receiving m2m early childhood development services in 2023 reached all of their developmental milestones at 12 months.
98%
of our clients had received age-appropriate childhood immunisations to safeguard their health by their first birthday, up from 96% in 2022. This far exceeds and average regional benchmark of 56%.[1]
