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Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal and health information AmaCare collects, how we use it, and your rights under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

Effective7 May 2026
Last updated7 May 2026
JurisdictionRepublic of South Africa

1. Who we are

AmaCare ("AmaCare", "we", "us", "our") is the responsible party (data controller) for your personal information processed in connection with the AmaCare WhatsApp service. We are based in the Republic of South Africa and process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your information, contact us at info@amacare.co.za.

2. Information we collect

To provide health guidance, AmaCare collects only the information needed for triage and safe communication. This includes:

Contact information

  • Your WhatsApp phone number, which is the channel we use to talk to you.
  • Your WhatsApp display name as shared by the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Health profile

  • Date of birth and biological sex.
  • Pregnancy or recent-birth status (where relevant).
  • Medical conditions, current medications, and medication allergies.

Chat content

  • The messages you send AmaCare describing your symptoms or concerns.
  • The replies AmaCare sends you, including triage outcomes and any escalation prompts.

Technical information

  • Message timestamps and basic delivery metadata required to operate the service.

Health information is treated as special personal information under POPIA. We process it only for the purposes listed in this policy and only with your authorisation in starting and continuing the chat.

3. How we use your information

We use the information you share for these specific purposes:

  • To understand your symptom or concern and provide general health guidance.
  • To make a triage decision — whether your case is suitable for self-care, needs an AmaCare doctor, or warrants urgent emergency care.
  • To prompt you in chat when AmaCare decides escalation to a human clinician is appropriate.
  • To improve the safety, accuracy, and quality of the AmaCare service.
  • To meet our legal, regulatory, and record-keeping obligations.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your chat content for advertising.

4. WhatsApp as our communication channel

AmaCare is delivered through the WhatsApp Business Platform, operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. By messaging AmaCare on WhatsApp you also interact with WhatsApp itself. WhatsApp's handling of your messages and metadata is governed by their own terms and privacy policy.

  • Messages between you and AmaCare are transmitted through WhatsApp.
  • WhatsApp is not an emergency channel and is not guaranteed to be instantly available.
  • We do not control WhatsApp's infrastructure, downtime, or message-retention behaviour on your device.

5. Sharing & processors

We share information only as needed to operate the service and only with parties bound by appropriate confidentiality and data-protection terms. These may include:

  • WhatsApp / Meta, as the messaging platform.
  • Cloud hosting and AI processing providers, used to operate AmaCare.
  • AmaCare doctors, where AmaCare has decided that your case requires clinician review.
  • Regulators, courts, or law enforcement where we are legally required to do so.

Where information is processed outside South Africa, we take reasonable steps to ensure it receives a comparable level of protection, as required by POPIA section 72.

6. Security

We apply reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These include encryption in transit, access controls, audit logging, and limiting access to personnel who need it.

AmaCare will never ask for your banking PINs, passwords, OTPs, or your ID number through chat. If you receive a message asking for these, treat it as suspicious and report it to info@amacare.co.za.

7. Data retention

We keep your personal and health information only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law.

  • Chat messages and triage decisions are retained for service operation, safety review, and clinical record-keeping.
  • Health profile information is retained while your account remains active.
  • When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it in line with POPIA.

You can request deletion of your information at any time — see Your rights under POPIA.

8. Your rights under POPIA

POPIA gives you specific rights in relation to your personal information. You can:

  • Access. Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
  • Correction. Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out-of-date, incomplete, misleading, or obtained unlawfully.
  • Deletion. Ask us to delete or destroy your personal information, subject to our legal record-keeping obligations.
  • Objection. Object to the processing of your personal information on reasonable grounds.
  • Withdraw consent. Withdraw your consent for further processing, where processing was based on your consent.
  • Complaint. Submit a complaint to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za.

To exercise any of these rights, email info@amacare.co.za from the same number or address you use for AmaCare. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

9. Children

AmaCare is intended for adults (18 years and older) in South Africa, asking about their own health. AmaCare is not designed for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has used the service, please contact us so we can address it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you through the WhatsApp channel.

11. Contact us

For privacy questions, access requests, or POPIA-related queries, contact:

This Privacy Policy is provided for transparency. It does not, on its own, create rights or obligations beyond those established under applicable South African law.

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