#msakhi

  It’s vaccination day, and there’s a great turnout, thanks to the persistence of accredited social health activists (ASHAs) like Maheshwari (far left). She shared Vaccination Day information with families over the phone.

She regularly makes phone calls to clients under her care to tell them about vaccination campaigns. She also accompanies them to the health center on important days like this.

Moms and babies wait to see a health worker. Suman Aswal (right) is accompanied by her mother-in-law Sheela Devi as she brings her twin baby girls Anshika and Vanshika for their vaccinations. 

Sunita Devi holds her three-month old baby boy. All the children who came to the health center had their weight measured and received DPT vaccinations against three infectious diseases: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus.

To keep track of vaccinations and other health data, ASHAs in Uttarakhand regularly use mSakhi, a job aid tool designed by IntraHealth International. mSakhi helps them organize their duties into calendars and reminders— including for important events like vaccination day—and more.

Suman, her mother-in-law, and Sunita leave the Pharsula health sub-centre with their babies. Commuting in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand means walking up and down hills and mountains. 

With the babies cradled in their arms, some of these families have to walk up to two hours to and from the health center on winding mountain paths.

Photos by Rahul Kumar for IntraHealth International

His birth on a cold December night became a significant event in her village when Bachan rushed her daughter-in-law to the nearest sub-centre for delivery.

Bachan was determined to set an example and show her neighbors how health workers at health facilities, as part of the larger health system, help women give birth safely.

Bachan is an accredited social health activist (or ASHA for short), a type of community health worker in India. Frontline health workers like her make up the backbone of the rural health system. They not only provide health and nutrition information to community members, they also help them access government health services.

In July, IntraHealth International trained Bachan to use the mSakhi mobile app. In Jharkhand and nearby Uttar Pradesh, ASHAs like her have been using mSakhi to update their skills, stay in touch with their supervisors, and track and report crucial data about health services in their communities—from maternal and child health to noncommunicable diseases.

Read how frontline health workers in Jharkhand are using mSakhi to screen for noncommunicable diseases:  mSakhi App Adapted for Noncommunicable Diseases in Jharkhand, India 

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Chaudhury is a senior technical advisor for Medtronic Foundation. The foundation funds IntraHealth’s work with the Jharkhand state government to train and equip frontline health workers to reduce the burden of diabetes and hypertension—two of the most common noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). An integral part of this work is the mobile app mSakhi (sakhi means “a friend” in Hindi).

IntraHealth International developed mSakhi originally as a job aid for ASHAs (India’s community health workers), including to walk through steps for counseling new moms on proper nutrition and vaccinations. The Jharkhand Department of Health adapted mSakhi for frontline health workers in Ranchi to screen clients over 30 years old for diabetes and hypertension. The health workers enter each client’s information and blood pressure measurements into mSakhi. If blood pressure is elevated, the health worker will refer the client to specialists, and use mSakhi to track and follow up on treatment compliance.

Learn more: mSakhi App Adapted for Noncommunicable Diseases in Jharkhand, India

Before becoming an “anganwadi worker”—a frontline community health worker who has traditionally focused on nutrition—she lived what she describes as an all-too-common life for a woman in her rural community.

Confined to her home and under the close watch of her in-laws, Lata wasn’t allowed to step out alone. When she did leave with a chaperone she had to cover her face with a veil, distorting her view of the world she wished to be a part of so badly.

Lata felt her education was being wasted and her abilities unfulfilled. She wanted to be an independent woman in addition to being a wife and mother. 

After hearing about, pursuing, and becoming an Anganwadi worker, Lata received training on mSakhi, an award-winning mobile phone app and audio/visual tool that helps health and community workers in even the remotest villages provide high-quality health care and information to pregnant women and new mothers.

Today Lata is equipped with a smartphone loaded with mSakhi and access to all the tools she needs for counselling women on maternal and child health. Initially, she was a bit hesitant and scared of using the technology.

Now Lata is confident. She can easily counsel a new mother (right) using mSakhi’s “home visit module,” including how to breastfeed, when to get immunizations, and what symptoms indicate serious illness. If the mother or her child need additional medical attention, Lata will refer them to a doctor or other health worker who can help.

And with mSakhi, Lata can also update her own skills and stay in touch with her supervisor.

"In the beginning, it was difficult to convince my family to let me join as an Anganwadi worker, but later they agreed,” Lata says. “Using the smartphone and [msakhi] trainings I got, I feel very knowledgeable and independent. I work for a living and feel more respected.”

Every year in India more than 750,000 newborns and 55,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes. In hard-to-reach places like Lata’s village, there are often few or even no trained health workers. You can help roll out mSakhi to more health workers in more villages. Your donations to our CaringCrowd initiative will help us purchase 50 mobile phones and provide training on mSakhi for health workers to change the lives of up to 50,000 people. Learn more and consider giving today: https://www.caringcrowd.org/bring-lifesaving-health-technology-mothers-india