MBRCGI Websites
|
Ibtekr.org
|
MBRCGI.gov.ae
|
UAE Innovates
|
Edge of Government
|
Pitch@Gov

Children's Health: India employs cutting-edge technologies to help vulnerable populations

8 minute read
Although health technology is critical to improving care for women and children, it has a host of challenges that the Ministry must overcome. These include how to manage and update the program on a regular basis as well as organize the vast amounts of data it collects.
Share this content

Add to Favorite ♡ 0

In a country of more than 1.3 billion people, Health problems affecting a small percentage of the population can turn into significant humanitarian concerns. Yes we are talking about India, The population faces a variety of health challenges, ranging from lack of qualified medical staff and frequent absences of staff to lack of resources and supplies.

These shortcomings affect women and young children disproportionately. Examples of persistent health problems that can be avoided and must be addressed as soon as possible include low newborn weight, stunting in children under six years of age and anaemia in women between 15 and 49.

Today, India's Ministry of Women and Child Development has decided to employ mobile healthcare technology to address these challenges. In this context, The Ministry launched the "POSHAN Abhiyaan" program funded by the World Bank. The program aims to address low birth weight, stunting and anaemia by equipping 1.4 million community health workers with the technology needed to improve enrolment rates and provide appropriate care to groups most in need.

Although health technology is critical to improving care for women and children, it has a host of challenges that the Ministry must overcome. These include how to manage and update the program on a regular basis as well as organize the vast amounts of data it collects.

New System

The first step was to reform the healthcare system in four Indian states by tackling the problem of reaching out to target groups. The most important question was: How can health workers reach marginalized women and children most in need?

Shared application software called ICDS-CAS uses a mobile app and a tablet to enable healthcare workers to register all families in their jurisdiction.

Once the families are registered, Workers can identify pregnant and lactating women and children up to the age of six. The focus is on these groups as they suffer the most from inadequate care.

Although it sounds simple, However, recording so many people was almost impossible before using the mobile app and app. Thanks to the efforts of the Ministry, Currently, all pregnant and lactating women and children are automatically registered for further services. Health-care workers thus have an ordered list that they can guide their field visits.

Based on demographic data collected and recorded, An automatic list of priority visits is developed. When asked how this process was going, Mohini Kak of the World Bank replied: "When a child reaches the age of 6 months, The app alerts the healthcare worker and encourages him to visit the family to advise them to start complementary feeding for the baby. This ensures timely home visits and focuses on important messages that are appropriate for the visit period. "

ICDS-CAS not only improves the ability of healthcare professionals to deliver appropriate and specific services to those most in need; it also addresses the challenge of quality control among workers themselves by assessing worker performance more easily and objectively.

Moreover, Managers can use the collected data to create a set of incentives for healthcare workers. For example, a financial reward is allocated if at least 60% of children under two years of age can be monitored monthly growth. Complete at least 60% of their assigned home visits.

Challenges

Despite the significant positive impact this technology has had on the old ecosystem, there are new challenges related to the nature and scope of this positive impact.

Mohini Kak says the ministry in charge of the project is still trying to figure out a way to create a reliable system to manage and update the software that many now rely on.

The system currently produces huge amounts of data that will be provided by 1.4 million healthcare workers. While this development is important, devising an effective mechanism to use data and harness it to improve decision-making is a new technological project in itself. To overcome this challenge, The Ministry seeks to establish a special unit for information technology, But that will take a long time and will require a significant investment to implement.

In contrast, POSHAN Abhiyaan has become one of the world's largest public health mobile technology programs. To allow this technology to reach its full potential, Steps must be taken to make better use of data and technology management.

Source: Original article published on August 21, 2019 on Optical

Subscribe to Ibtekr to stay updated on the latest government initiatives, courses, tools and innovations
Register Now
Subscribe to the Ibtekr's mailing list | every week
Innovators Mailing List
We share with more than 20,000 innovators weekly newsletter that monitors global innovations from all over the world
Subscription Form (en)
More from Ibtekr

How China built the world's largest electric vehicle charging network

Because it aspires to transform the transport sector into an environmentally friendly system, China is working to electrify 40% of its onshore fleet. To achieve this, Approved support policies for producers and consumers, Today, charging stations are established in the rest of the country, It seeks to promote equality between urban and rural areas in keeping pace with this revolutionary transformation.

 · · 16 August 2023

Innovation lab promotes change in Estonia

Imagine that you are in a country where entrepreneurs connect with the government and succeed in transforming its image from a country involved in money laundering issues into a promising market for fintech companies.

 · · 6 May 2023

Five steps to ensure the sustainability of government innovations

In light of the growth of these investments aimed at strengthening the innovative capabilities of local governments, The following important question arises: How can cities ensure the sustainability of innovation in their businesses? Despite the urgency of these capacities for local governments, But city leaders face a real challenge in terms of funding and providing ongoing support to teams responsible for innovation. especially when they face complex problems resulting from most innovative efforts due to the long time it takes to achieve results in this aspect, Or entrenched opposition and bureaucratic procedures should be an essential part of the challenge.

 · · 6 May 2023

Overcoming cultural challenges related to remote work

Research has proven that there is an increase in remote work rates even in the government sector. In a 2019 survey of the local government workforce, Flexible working hours have been shown to be a strength in recruitment and employee retention efforts.

 · · 6 May 2023

Sanitation Sector Innovations: Insights from smartphones in Vietnam

The Vietnamese government has decided not to ask for a loan from the World Bank to use to purchase its resources. Unless you obtain digitally authenticated evidence, no paper, Captures using smartphones, Prove that adequate infrastructure for rural water as well as sanitation has been established and that it is functioning properly.

 · · 6 May 2023
1 2 3 9
magnifiercrossmenuchevron-down