MATRIX: New technologies for maternal health screening and diagnosis in low-resource settings
MATRIX is a research and development platform working with health facilities in low- and middle-income countries.
In MATRIX, we are evaluating new and affordable technologies that can help improve maternal healthcare. MATRIX focuses on tools for prediction, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy complications, particularly in settings with limited resources.
The goal is to identify tools with the greatest potential to reduce illness and deaths among mothers and babies in high-burden countries.
MATRIX stands for Maternal health Advancement Through Rapid Innovation and eXploration.
The problem
Providing high-quality antenatal care can be challenging, especially in low-resource settings. Health services need to support all pregnant women through routine care and risk screening, while also identifying and managing serious conditions early.
Pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, anaemia and gestational diabetes can be difficult to detect and manage when health systems have limited staff, equipment or access to diagnostic services.
Many existing screening and diagnostic tools are expensive, complicated or only designed to assess a single condition at a time.
Our solution
MATRIX is evaluating innovative, low-cost and accurate tools that can improve the screening, diagnosis and management of pregnancy complications.
Our priority is to evaluate technologies that can assess multiple conditions during a single visit, helping make antenatal care more efficient and accessible.
In 2026-27, MATRIX is evaluating several promising tools to add prediction or diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, anaemia and gestational diabetes. This includes:
- AI-assisted retinal imaging to predict or diagnose pregnancy complications
- point-of-care blood tests that can help predict or detect disease
- new devices for detecting high blood pressure in pregnancy
- using AI-assisted ultrasound to predict complications in pregnancy.
Partners
Funding
Gates Foundation
Collaborators
- Concept Foundation
- University of Melbourne
- University of Ghana
- University of Nairobi
- University of Cape Town
- KLE University India
Project contact
Professor Joshua Vogel
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head, Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Group; Senior Principal Research Fellow
Project team
Dr Annie McDougall
Senior Research Fellow and Team Leader - Medicines in Pregnancy Research
Dr Joshua Ginnane
Senior Research Officer
Kara Blackburn
Research Midwife
Associate Professor Lindi Masson
Deputy Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head, Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health
Long Nguyen
Data Manager
Associate Professor Nick Scott
Head, Modelling and Biostatistics
Dr Nina Radzey
Research Officer
Rachel Craik
Senior Research Fellow
Samantha Timms
Executive Assistant to Professor Caroline Homer, Deputy Director (Gender, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and Professor Joshua Vogel
Dr Thi Nguyen
Data Scientist
Thomas Walsh
Health Modeller
Alessandra Fleurent
Program Manager – R&D
Concept Foundation
Alim Swarray-Deen
Lecturer
University of Ghana
Alfred Osoti
Lecturer
University of Nairobi
Ama Tamatey
Lecturer
University of Ghana
Avinash Kavi
Project manager
JN Medical College
Ayesha Osman
Specialist
University of Cape Town
Digsu Koye
Clinical Epidemiologist and Biostatistician
University of Melbourne
George Gwako
Lecturer
University of Nairobi
Jennifer Blum
Senior Clinical and Trials Manager – R&D
Concept Foundation
Professor Julie Simpson
Chief Investigator
University of Melbourne
Kwame Adu-Bonsaffoh
Senior Lecturer/ Consultant
University of Ghana
Professor Manjunath Somannavar
Professor of Biochemistry
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College
Marta Fernández Suárez
Executive Director
Concept Foundation
Professor Meghan Bohren
Senior Lecturer, Gender and Women’s Health
Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne
Metin Gülmezoglu
Advisor
Concept Foundation
Mritunjaya C Metgud
Specialist
JN Medical College
Mridula Shankar
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
University of Melbourne
Mushi Matjila
Principal Investigator
University of Cape Town
Dr Nicole Minckas
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Melbourne
Rosa Chemway
Consultant Obstetrician, Gynecologist and Researcher
University of Nairobi
Samuel Oppong
Consultant Obstetrician Gynaecologist
University of Ghana
Professor Shivaprasad Goudar
Professor of Physiology
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College
Sue Fawcus
Senior Scholar
University of Cape Town
Yogesh Kumar S
Associate Professor
JN Medical College