Mother Care

“Humein toh pata hi nahi”, “Humein toh yaad hi nahi rehta”
(“I am not aware”, “I just don’t remember”)

Yes. Precisely the main problems as communicated directly by the prospective beneficiaries, when we spoke to many of pregnant and lactating women during our field surveys in villages in Bihar, on the issue of essential ante-natal, post-natal check-ups, immunizations, intake of IFA tablets etc.  They are not aware of essential ante/post natal activities such as regular check-ups, Tetanus Injections, intake of IFA tablets, immunization activities etc., all of which are provided free of cost under various government schemes. Further, even if they are informed, they tend to forget the required interventions.

To address this lack of adequate and timely information, we have developed a simple web-based tool which helps us remind these women of all the essential ante-natal & post-natal activities through weekly phone calls and SMSes. Our approach engages them on a one-to-one basis through reminder phone calls and also through in-person engagement under our other on-field programs at different aggregation events.

The following key features of our program make it more effective than other existing interventions which rely too much on the ability of prospective beneficiaries to read, self-start & take informed decisions & are generally one way static/one time engagements:
1. Regular, timely and consistent engagement
2. Working on a two-way communication model helps us evaluate the current status of various interventions, identify key blockers, find the root cause(s) and take remedial action
3. One-to-one engagement makes the interaction lively and dynamic and thus, more effective
4. Inputs received during the call also help us learn and evolve our technology-driven tool.

Combining the strength of a wide-spread mobile network and our focus on using technology to solve real life problems, we hope to fundamentally alter the status of maternal and child health on a large scale in India.