By Vijayalakshmi Raghavan
New Delhi: The Government of India runs many schemes and programs to provide quality services to pregnant women and children with the aim of reducing neonatal diseases and infant mortality rates (NMR/IMR) as well as the maternal mortality ratio (MMR). This is one of the main focus areas of the Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health plus Nutrition (RMNCAH +N) strategy of the National Health Mission, which promotes a holistic set of interventions throughout the life cycle. of the population group that includes adolescent girls, women of reproductive age, pregnant mothers and their children.
There has been a greater focus on digitization. This has occurred alongside increased mobile phone penetration at the population level. Successively, digitization Efforts have begun to focus on the use of mobile phones in the field to convey health-related information, send reminders, and solicit feedback from patients about services.
The capture of information in an integrated reporting system is equally important for evidence-based decision making. Some key challenges that are identified along the cycle continuum are suboptimal identification of high-risk mothers, challenges in the classification of low birth weight (LBW) infants and weight measurement, malnutrition leading to 50 percent of infant deaths, persistent high levels of anemia in children, adolescents, pregnant women and women of reproductive age, poor quality of maternal care, etc. AI-powered solutions can be designed and implemented to address these challenges in line with the ongoing schemes and priorities of the Government of India. Wadhwani AI has developed and is working on a range of AI-powered tools that seek to address these issues around the world. RMNCAH spectrum+N.
However, challenges still remain related to collecting the right type of data. In addition to a focus on the integrity of the information, there must be an equal focus on training, supportive supervision, and ease of use of the tools so that the data that is captured is not only complete but also accurate and timely. An ecosystem of applications that does this in an integrated way, satisfying the needs of pregnant mothersfield workers and the health system as a whole is the need of the moment.
Field workers should be given every kind of support to capitalize on their wonderful relationships on the ground within user communities. This will allow them to not only collect data to support planning and monitoring, but also directly help them do their jobs. Maternal health is ultimately a package of comprehensive health care services designed to prevent adverse outcomes, cure disease, and meet the needs of pregnant women before, during, and after childbirth, as well as infants and children. preschool age from birth to five years. includes nutrition. A healthy woman will be a healthy mother who will give birth to healthy children. To ensure a safe journey to motherhood for all women, we need a focused and integrated approach to services.
Vijayalakshmi Raghavan, Director of Solutions, Wadhwani AI
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