mSakhi

mSakhi, which means mobile friend in Hindi, is an interactive vernacular audio/video-guided mobile application that offers 153 key health messages on prenatal and delivery care, postpartum mother and newborn care, immunization, postpartum family planning, and nutrition using a combination of text messages, audio, and illustrations all contextualized with localized illustrations and dialects. Operations research on mSakhi is being conducted with 90 accredited social health activists (ASHAs) in Bahraich District to test the effectiveness of the application by comparing the knowledge of 45 ASHAs and the adoption of health behaviors by 480 of their beneficiaries in an experimental group and the same number of ASHAs and beneficiaries in a control group.

http://www.intrahealth.org/page/mobile-application-reinforces-frontline-health-workers-knowledge-confidence-and-credibility-

Local implementation: India, Uttar Pradesh

Implemented and no longer active from 01/01/2009 to 31/12/2013

Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

• Children under 5
• New born
• Pregnant women

• Community health worker

• Maternal, newborn, infant and child health
• Patient safety
• Pregnancy
• Reproductive health

• Neonatal infections
• pregnancy complications

• Access to information and services
• Diagnostic and treatment support
• Health education
• Health promotion
• Healthcare management

• Satellite
• Wired network
• Wireless network

• Audio-visual
• Computers / Servers / Tablets
• Mobile phones
• Smartphones

IVR technology

    None

This project is evaluated? Yes

Year of evaluation 2013

The positive findings from the evaluation make a case for implementing and evaluating mSakhi at scale. See attached file.