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 Amid a scarcity of doctors and public hospitals, India is relying on
its mobile telephone network, the second largest in the world with
950 million connections, to reach places where health workers rarely
go.
"It's a huge priority for us," health ministry official Manoj
Jhalani told Reuters, adding that the service, advising on
vaccinations and vitamin supplements, will launch in eight of the
country's Hindi-speaking states by Aug. 15."These are the most
cost-effective health interventions," said Jhalani, the supervisor
of the project, named 'Kilkari,' or "Baby's Gurgle", which will
tailor its recorded messages to individual stages of pregnancy or
the age of a newborn.
Poor sanitary conditions and stark poverty prevail in many villages
in India, which recorded 50,000 maternal deaths in 2013, when 1.3
million children died before turning five.
Preventable hazards such as pneumonia, or poor nutrition, cause most
deaths of mothers and babies. Many women give birth at home without
access to clean water and toilets, while public medical clinics
remain dilapidated and overcrowded.
Over the last 18 months, almost 100,000 rural families have signed
up for the voice message project, first piloted by the government of
the impoverished, but resource-rich, eastern state of Bihar.
With India's health services starved for funds, the mobile phone
messages are a cheaper way to spread basic tips on health.
Payment delays have led to months of disruption in the traditional
system of home visits by health workers to encourage pregnant women
to take medicine and follow safety measures.
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The new project, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
the charity arm of British broadcaster BBC, will make use of a
national database to track pregnant women.
Another service, Mobile Academy, will also use recorded messages to
help train India's millions of health workers.
Health experts welcome the initiatives, but warn such mobile phone
campaigns will not be enough to cut mortality rates unless India
ramps up health services, particularly in rural areas.
"This (mobile services) will have a very marginal effect," said
Dileep Mavalankar, director of the Indian Institute of Public Health
in the western state of Gujarat, adding that the health system
needed to be strengthened in remote areas.
(Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Clarence Fernandez)
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