Across Africa, millions of women struggle in silence with reproductive health issues because they lack clear information, trusted support, or even someone they can safely talk to.
From the misconceptions about menstrual health to the mysteries of menopause, complexities of Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the trials of infertility, a young Nigerian woman is building a tech-driven and AI-powered system to end every stigma attached to it.
Meet Kieva Chris-Amusan, a trained medical doctor and experienced product strategist building Fertitude to transform the sensitive issue of women’s reproductive health into a modern and confidential experience without losing the human element that provides comfort and personalised medical support.
Fertitude is an AI-powered reproductive health app that turns daily cycle & symptom tracking into clear explanations and fun, gamified health tasks. It prompts early action and improves health outcomes by offering women personalised recommendations, access to medical professionals, self‑paced care programs, and anonymous forums where they can speak openly.
This healthtech is aided by Kiki AI, a chatbot designed to educate and guide women in a confidential, empathetic way. With over 10,000 users across Africa and beyond, Fertitude is not only helping individuals but also building one of the richest datasets on African women’s reproductive health with data that can inform policy and drive innovation.
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How Keiva’s journey with African women started
Dr Kieva holds an MBBS degree and has spent the last decade working across the e-commerce, fintech, gaming, and health sectors.
An alumna of the Draper University in Silicon Valley, USA, she completed leadership training in Health Systems from the University of Washington. Her entrepreneurial work has been recognised by the Gates Foundation–backed Banking on Women’s Health Awards and several global innovation programs.
Before Fertitude, Kieva bootstrapped an e-commerce business to $600K in revenue, and led Growth Marketing at She Leads Africa, serving a community of nearly one million women across EMEA, and later supported female founders through Venturing Women, a Germany-based incubator.
Her pivot to healthtech began with a personal experience. About two years ago, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Though her condition was mild, the experience opened her eyes to a major gap in women’s health awareness.
“I started researching and speaking to other women who were dealing with reproductive health issues. Many of them were confused, scared, or simply didn’t know what was happening with their bodies,” she said.
She created an anonymous community where women could safely share their experiences after she noticed how many women were struggling simply because they didn’t understand what was happening in their bodies.
She explained that, as a trained medical doctor, she could easily tell what was normal, what wasn’t, and when to seek help. However, most women didn’t have that knowledge and often felt disempowered then she thought of building a community.
“I started an anonymous community just to help women feel comfortable opening up, and the response showed me how much support they truly needed. Women were asking for gynaecologists and other services they didn’t know how to access,” Kieva said.
She noted that the response was significant initially. Women were eager to talk, learn, and seek help. Soon, requests for access to gynaecologists and other health professionals began. It was then realised that she could do more.
That solution became Fertitude. It merges AI, healthtech, and empathy to give women control over their reproductive health. Beyond individual care, Fertitude contributes to a larger mission by being one of the richest, ethically sourced datasets on African women’s reproductive health patterns.
“This data can help drive innovation, inform policy, and ultimately improve outcomes for millions of women. It’s AI and data for social good,” Kieva affirmed.
Major challenges Kieva faced in her journey
According to Kieva, Fertitude hasn’t. had a major challenge that would prevent users from accessing it yet. She attributed this stability to her engineering team and a strategic approach to development.
However, she noted the ongoing concern is bridging the gap between the current product, which she considers an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and the ultimate “ultra vision” of what Fertitude can be. This refinement process is hard work, involving continuous user feedback and data analysis to determine what to change or add.
“The biggest challenge is moving from the MVP to the full vision of what we know we can build, and I’m learning not to beat myself up about it. Though not a catastrophic one, refining the product is hard work. Gathering data, getting user feedback, looking at what the data says, and asking, ‘Do people like our product? What should we change or add?’ is a constant process,” Kieva said.
Keiva’s plans for Fertitude
Keiva affirmed that the Fertitude platform provides multiple avenues for confidential support. For those who can afford the app, it offers an in-app community where they can send messages and receive responses from peers or doctors.
Furthermore, to ensure no woman is left out, even those who cannot afford to download the app, Fertitude is developing a project to partner with public health systems, donors, and companies with CSR budgets.
This initiative involves rolling out a version of Kiki AI available on WhatsApp, where women can call a toll-free line for initial health advice. If they are identified as high-risk, the system would then funnel them to the nearest hospital.
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